We've been very busy over the summer putting the finishing touches to a brand new concert finder and it's now up and running. We listened to what people wanted and completely changed the way you select what you want to see, as well as adding some new features. We hope that it will be easier and more fun for you to browse through and see who's playing which works by your favourite composer, and where they're being played. There are also lots of pictures of places, performers and especially of composers, like the one on the right which shows why Liszt was such a heartthrob, or, in the case of Donizetti, a cartoon self-portrait!
You will also be able to find many more concerts abroad than previously. There are nearly 5,000 forthcoming events in the database, with the majority now coming from outside the United Kingdom. You can find out about what is being played at the famous Schubertiade Festival in Austria, and view the new season at the Met in New York. If you want to see a particular Symphony or Opera performed there's a good chance you can find a performance, whether it's in Prague, Berlin, Paris or Los Angeles!
The date selector now lets you pick a month with a single click, and you can even tell it to look for week-ends only - so if you fancy a week-end city break in many places in Europe, you can see what concerts and operas are on.
Meanwhile we've continued to work hard to get teenagers to give classical music a chance too. Our Young Reviewers have continued to be busy over the summer and you can see a list of their reviews in our new "For teens" section. If you know a 12–16 year old who might be tempted to go to a concert, then tell them about the scheme: they will get two tickets free, and become a published reviewer in the process. Classical Music needs to find its audience of the future.
The “For kids” section continues to grow as we have started to review children's classical music and give parents and grandparents a steer as to which are the best CDs to buy and why. Our kids events section contains many concerts aimed specifically at children, taking place all over the UK.
The Directory has expanded with a list of Universities and Music Colleges who regularly put on concerts so those looking for inexpensive concerts can find out who puts on concerts near to where they live.
We also write stories about some of the concerts we go to or any oddities that we come across, like the provenance of Shostakovich's arrangement of "Tea for Two" (written for a hundred rouble bet), the amount of modern music being played in different countries, or the beautiful musical instrument museum in Venice (see the picture of a lyre guitar on the left): these go under our "News and Views" section and/or "David's blog".
So check us out and see what you want to book this season. There is more in the pipeline as we continue to work hard to make Bachtrack the most exciting and interesting classical music site anywhere.
And, of course, if you have anything you'd like to see on the site, or any way in which you think it should be improved, please let us know via the contact us page.
Happy listening...
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