Jia Lissa 
Opera Holland Park has returned to Johann Strauss II’s immortal 1874 operetta, Die Fledermaus, exactly a decade after its last mounting of the work. Premiering on July 29, 2026, this bold new production is directed and choreographed by Liam Steel, conducted by George Jackson, and performed by the ever-reliable City of London Sinfonia. Transposing the … Read more
Executive Overview Inside Apple Music’s state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos studio in Los Angeles, the 14 QSC loudspeakers overhead vibrate with unrelenting, driving techno. Suddenly, a hand rises. Jeff Mills signals to Cliff Norrell, Apple Music’s lead spatial audio engineer, to cut the mix. They are meticulously reviewing the multitrack recording of Mills’ electrifying performance from March … Read more
Executive Overview In the shifting landscape of contemporary independent music, genuine subcultural pedigree is increasingly rare. Yet, Columbus-born multi-instrumentalist Winston Hightower occupies a space that is proudly, defiantly immune to corporate sanitization. To trace Hightower’s career is to map a subterranean geography of the American underground. Having built a formidable reputation as a touring bassist … Read more
Executive Overview Carmine Appice stands as one of the fundamental architects of hard rock percussion. In the late 1960s, as the co-founder and drumming powerhouse of Vanilla Fudge, Appice helped forge a sonic template that fundamentally altered the sound, scale, and physicality of rock music. His heavy-handed, polyrhythmic approach and use of oversized drum kits … Read more
The Salzburg Festival has long served as the crucible where high-art ambition meets public expectation, regularly testing the boundaries of classical repertoire through avant-garde visions and meticulous musical direction. On August 6, 2026, the venerable Grosses Festspielhaus played host to one of the most compelling triumphs of the season: a restudied, uncut presentation of Wolfgang … Read more
As the relentless heat of the northern hemisphere’s summer reaches its absolute zenith, the global dance music ecosystem finds itself constantly searching for that singular sonic antidote—a record that cuts through the humidity, commands the rooftop terraces, and anchors the golden hour playlists. Enter Los Angeles-based DJ, producer, and tastemaker Mia Moretti, whose latest studio … Read more
The 2026 Salzburg Festival will long be remembered for staging one of the most polarizing operatic juxtaposition experiments of the decade. On August 7, 2026, at the prestigious Haus für Mozart, audiences gathered for the second performance of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s multi-layered masterpiece, Ariadne auf Naxos. Directed and designed by the multi-disciplinary … Read more
Executive Overview In the late 1980s, global heavy metal was undergoing a seismic evolution. Thrash metal had erupted into a dominant commercial and artistic force, propelled by North American juggernauts such as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, alongside West Germany’s formidable "Teutonic Four" (Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, and Tankard). Yet despite the United Kingdom having laid … Read more
Executive Overview In the sprawling landscape of 1960s avant-garde and modal jazz, few territories remain as deeply misunderstood or overlooked as the Iberian Peninsula. While the cultural capitals of London, New York, and Paris dominated global discourse with seismic socio-political shifts and avant-garde manifestos, a quiet, sophisticated revolution was taking place in Madrid. At the … Read more
Executive Overview Synthesizing a legacy that stretches back to the post-punk dawn of the early 1980s, synth-pop pioneers Soft Cell have returned to showcase the darker, moodier undercurrents of their upcoming and final album, Danceteria. The duo—consisting of vocalist Marc Almond and the late instrumentalist and sound architect Dave Ball—has released "The Space Inside," a … Read more
