Kate Wakeling
Journalist and Critic, BBC Music Magazine
Kate Wakeling is a writer, musicologist, poet and BBC Music Magazine critic, predominantly focusing on contemporary music. She studied music at Cambridge University and holds a PhD in Balinese gamelan music from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and is a writer-in-residence with the Aurora Orchestra.
Recent articles by Kate Wakeling
Review: Hymns of Bantu (Abel Selaocoe)
This is a beautiful musical melting pot from cellist, vocalist and composer Abel Selaocoe and friends, and a reminder of music’s life-affirming power, says Kate Wakeling in her review
Review: Shawn E Okpebholo 'Songs in Flight'
Shawn E Okpebholo’s new song cycle is an outstanding response to America’s painful past and
gets to the heart of real lives exploited by slavery, says Kate Wakeling in her review
William Blake: the visionary poet who lit a flame in composers from Vaughan Williams to Bob Dylan
The visionary poetry and vivid illustrations of William Blake have inspired hundred of pieces, from songs to symphonies. Kate Wakeling finds out why
Review: The Salvage Men (Eric Ericson Chamber Choir)
The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir shine in this outstanding selection of modern works for choir by US composers, says Kate Wakeling in her review
Gabriela Ortiz: Revolución Diamantina
Errollyn Wallen: why sea, sky and solitude are key to her magical soundworld
From her first piano lesson, composer Errollyn Wallen has lived and breathed music; and though inspired by a range of styles, her composing is a deeply personal expression, as she tells Kate Wakeling
Augusta Read Thomas: Terpsichore's Box of Dreams
My Microtonal Piano
Julius Eastman: Femenine
Young Composers 5
Von Zieritz: Le Violon de la Mort; Double Concerto; Japanese Songs
Our Stories
Forget This Night
African American Voices II
Coleridge-Taylor: Partsongs
Dobrinka Tabakova: Earth Suite etc
Jake Heggie: a life less ordinary
American composer Jake Heggie is best known for his operas, which tackle painful and difficult topics – and his path to success has been anything but ordinary, writes Kate Wakeling
Rising
Lawrence Brownlee (tenor), Kevin J Miller (piano) (Warner Classics)
Coleridge-Taylor • Dvořák: String Quartet, Op. 106 etc
Takács Quartet (Hyperion)
Malek Jandali: Violin and Clarinet Concertos
Anthony McGill (clarinet), Rachel Barton Pine (violin); ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop (Cedille)
Because (Reginald Mobley)
Reginald Mobley (countertenor), Baptiste Trotignon (piano) (Alpha Classics)
Revival (Michelle Cann)
Michelle Cann (piano) (Curtis Studio)
Broken Branches (Sulayman/Shibe)
Karim Sulayman (tenor), Sean Shibe (guitar) (Pentatone)
Eric Whitacre: Home
VOCES8; Emma Denton (cello), Christopher Glynn (piano) (Decca)