1. PRAGUE Snowflakes blowing across the Charles Bridge, music recitals in candelit churches, underground bars, firelit restaurants serving huge plates of comfort food and fine red wines... How could your lover fail to be won over?
McGregor wasn't having any of it: he hired a room at a coffee house in Aston and ordered his players to attend a series of sober gatherings and musical recitals.
Van began giving recitals at four, and two years later the family moved to Kilgore, Texas.
Antonia, a British expat and tonight's guest chef, introduces me to a young filmmaker from Guadeloupe; an American pianist invites me to one of his recitals; and a local called Michael insists that next time I visit I attend his own open-house dinners, held every Saturday evening near Notre Dame (see meetup.com/TalkTime).
So that the significance of what had happened in Moscow should not be forgotten, he habitually began subsequent recitals with The Star-Spangled Banner.
The big event this year is Berlioz's epic "Les Troyens", conducted by Zubin Mehta.Over the border in Austria, the most prestigious festival of all is Salzburg (July 21st-August 31st), or at least it ought to be, with its glittering mixture of opera, chamber music, solo recitals and orchestral concerts.
More than the large events, though, it is the many chamber-music and song recitals around the city that often leave visitors with the most vivid memories.The Lucerne festival (August 15th-September 15th) is held in a new lakeside theatre designed by Jean Nouvel.
The sight of young, otherwise progressive Bangladeshis seeking capital punishment, through music, street theatre, chants and recitals, is both moving and unsettling.
"They permit beauty pageants but ban recitals of the Koran," moans a Liberation Party leader.It is unclear whether the PA's muzzling of the Islamists has dented their popularity.
But the dozens of concerts and recitals in America and Europe for Brahms's centenary are a good occasion to recall how controversial a figure he often was, and how problematic his reputation.
Whether you live there or are just visiting, if you want to hear fine chamber music in a magnificent setting, you can find no better Sunday morning treat than this month's classical recitals by up-and-coming young musicians at the Wallace Collection on Manchester Square.
