From my album of the week on sinfinimusic.com:

The marvel of …’s interpretation is the way he reflects each step back, each emotion, in vocal colour alone, without having to add emphasis by changing volume or syllabic stress. His diction is so clear you could teach Russian from it and his pitch is pin-perfect. I cannot imagine a finer recital of these introspective, lonely contemplations.

Read full review here.

The question is put coherently by Sylvain Fort, editor of Forumopera, which is leading a campaign to stop the unsightly removal of partitions between boxes at the historic Palais Garnier.

The director of the Opéra, Stéphane Lissner, is spending 300,000 Euros to remove the barriers, with the aim of making 300-600,000 a year from about 30 extra seats.

That’s peanuts in real terms, says Sylvain. The bull in the recent production of Moses und Aron cost 50k, the strike two months ago left a 400k budget hole.

Leave the boxes alone, says Sylvain. Focus on running an efficient opera house.

Sign the anti-wrecking petition here.

A Garnier box with partition removed. So ugly.

Negin Khpolwak, 17, is the rising star at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul (which we have reported on before), the country’s only music school.

Negin plays stringed instruments and piano. Sometimes she stands in front of the class and conducts.

(photo (c) BBC)

Read a BBC report on her here.