THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL: Roderic Dunnett previews the 2024 edition of the UK's oldest music festival, 27 July until 4 August.
VIDEO PODCAST: Discussion about Bernard Haitink (1929-2021), Salzburg, Roger Doyle's Finnegans Wake Project, the English Symphony Orchestra, the Chopin Competition Warsaw, Los Angeles Opera and other subjects.
MET STARS: From 2002 until 2021 the late Maria Nockin reported from Arizona, mostly on live opera productions.
French soprano and teacher Rachel Yakar was born in Lyon on 3 March 1936. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Germaine Lubin.
She made her debut at Strasbourg Opera in 1963, and then worked as a member of the ensemble at Deutsche Oper am Rhein from 1964 for more than twenty-five years. She also performed in Bayreuth, Chicago, Covent Garden, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Paris, Salzburg, San Francisco and Toronto. She became known for her Mozart roles, but also sang Baroque and twentieth century works.
She taught singing at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris.
Rachel Yakar died on 24 June 2023, aged eighty-seven.