Guardian Music — The musician and broadcaster talks about his familyWe make too much of class differences in this country. I meet people from really grand backgrounds who had horrible parents who took no interest in them, whereas I'm a working-class boy from Deptford... more info

Guardian Music — How do conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle and Valery Gergiev work? Tom Service drops in on leading orchestras to find outThe first concert of orchestral music I ever went to – I was seven – introduced me to Mozart, his 29th Symphony ... more info

LargeHeartedBoy — In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Kevin Brockmeier, George Pelecanos, Dana Spiotta, Amy ... more info

Guardian Music — The great populariser of early music was a man of scarcely believable energy and productivityWhat's happened to early music? Now we've got conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics,... more info

Guardian Music — Coliseum, LondonPremiered in Frankfurt in 2006, Caligula is the first of Detlev Glanert's full-scale operas to be taken into the UK repertory, and ENO should be commended for tackling it. A brave, if flawed piece, it's based on Albert Camus's play, f... more info

Guardian Music — Popular baritone and lieder singer with remarkable dictionDerek Hammond-Stroud, who has died at the age of 85, was a popular and highly regarded baritone who enlivened the British lyric stage for several decades in a variety of roles. His remarkable ... more info

Guardian Music — For contemporary and classical with a difference here are the Uk's best summer sessionsAldeburghWhen 8-24 JuneWhere Snape Maltings, SuffolkWhat Classical fest founded in 1948 by Benjamin BrittenWho Miklós Perényi, Menahem PresslerHow much Free-£32... more info

Guardian Music — Spectacular remote settings, world-class performers – we round up Scotland's best summer classical music festivalsSt Magnus, Orkney, 21-30 JuneThe festival Mostly takes place around Kirkwall, on Orkney's "mainland", including St Magnus Cathedral an... more info

Guardian Music — Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle(EMI)Bruckner's Ninth Symphony is generally regarded as one of the great musical torsos, alongside other unfinished works such as Mahler's 10th Symphony and Elgar's Third, Mozart's Requiem and operas such as Berg's... more info

Guardian Music — Slipper-clad Russian grannies and Jedward's poptastic cheese – yes, it's time for Eurovision again. Here's who to look out for in Saturday's finalAh, Eurovision. Spiritual home of twinkly pop, crazy Euro rockers, accordions and Jedward. After last ... more info