'This experience has revealed just how much I love music': pianist Paul Lewis on life in lockdown

FIRST PERSON: PIANIST PAUL LEWIS Today's Wigmore lunchtime recitalist on lockdown life

On the eve of his return to an empty Wigmore Hall, a very individual artist reflects

As an instrumentalist, you can sit down and play music and escape from the stress. It’s a privilege to be able to do something that takes you to a different place – you’re removed from everything that’s happening. When you stop, there are reminders all around, though: worry about the health of friends and family, and concern about when we’re going to play concerts again and what it’s going to be like when we do.

Classical music/Opera direct to home 13 - piano marathons and string masterclasses

CLASSICAL MUSIC/OPERA DIRECT TO HOME 13 Piano marathons, string masterclasses

Igor Levit meditates on Satie for 20 hours, while Nicola Benedetti educates with joy

In an atmosphere of uncertainty created by a government desperate to boost the economy despite the COVID-19 infection rate not reducing significantly, some UK venues and organisations are moving responsibly towards some kind of new normality. The Wigmore Hall has lunchtime concerts every weekday from 1 June, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and livestreamed on the hall's website.

'Artists' online rivalry feels stronger': pianist Joseph Moog on the difficulties of performing in lockdown

PIANIST JOSEPH MOOG on the difficulties of performing in lockdown

Fascinating interpreter of Liszt and others on where musicians find themselves now

It can be found in any contract. Both artists, as well as promoters, are aware of it, but it used to be an exception so rare that only a few have ever experienced it: the clause of "force majeure". Now it is sadly commonplace in the world of the performing arts.

Classical Music/Opera direct to home 7 - Jeremy Denk's well-tempered Bach revelations

★★★★★ CLASSICAL MUSIC DIRECT 7 Jeremy Denk's well-tempered Bach revelations

The pianist shares his spoken observations and insights with natural charm and humility

One person playing one instrument from home to the edification and delight of thousands: it's been a constant in these confining days, and well meant even if the sound isn't always up to it, a necessary substitute for live communication on both sides. But this is something else: an education, a detailed sharing of love and consolation which makes me wonder why other musicians haven't taken up the challenge (maybe some have, but I haven't heard about it).

'Most significant is the experience of being confronted by different ideas': Steven Osborne on free piano lessons from quarantine

FIRST PERSON: STEVEN OSBORNE on free piano lessons from quarantine

One of the world's great pianists on why he needs to teach right now

How fast the world can change. What seemed unimaginable just weeks ago, the effective shuttering of our societies, is now a reality in many countries for at least weeks and quite possibly several months to come. I hope for the health and security of all of you reading this. I’m not going to reflect on our situation at any length as I’m sure many of you have read far more on the subject than is good for you - I certainly have! - but rather I want to talk about an idea that came to me a few days ago that gave me a lot of pleasure.

Classical music/Opera direct to home: 2 - Boris Giltburg and Igor Levit

CLASSICAL MUSIC / OPERA DIRECT TO HOME Boris Giltburg and Igor Levit

Two top pianists give live recitals in their music rooms at different times of day

Maybe it's not so surprising that the musicians one has long thought of as true Menschen of the profession - that applies to both sexes, of course, and maybe it's just more about the artists in question being natural communicators - have been among the first to rally in the current crisis.

Denk, LPO, Vänskä, RFH review - 200 years of joy and sorrow

★★★★★ DENK, LPO, VÄNSKÄ, RFH 200 years of joy and sorrow

A febrile odyssey from fresh Beethoven to over-the-rainbow Enescu

Three works two centuries apart, two of them rarities, with 100/200 years between each: that's no guarantee for programming success, and no way to fill a hall (though the London Philharmonic Orchestra admin deserves a good medal for the intricacy of its “2020 Vision” series planning, linked to the Beethoven anniversary and explained by Gavin Dixon in his review of Vladimir Jurowski’s launch concert earlier this month).

Simon Trpčeski, Barbican review - a charismatic chameleon

★★★★ SIMON TRPČESKI, BARBICAN  From hushed pianistic magic to percussive terror

A Brahms labyrinth, glittering Liszt and Russians alternating melancholy with madness

When Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski first bounced on to the concert scene, he seemed part will-o-the-wisp, part jack-in-the-box, a real personality of coruscating brilliance.

Aimard, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Roth, RFH review - Beethoven as avant-gardist

★★★★ AIMARD, GÜRZENICH-ORCHESTER KÖLN, ROTH, RFH Beethoven as avant-gardist

Only connect: works up to two centuries apart meet and argue in vital programming

In Beethoven anniversary year, there are three ways to enhance our ongoing concert dialogues with the composer beyond the bog-standard overture-concerto-symphony format: complete cycles of the quartets, symphonies and sonatas, preferably without old vulgarians presenting; focusing on Beethoven and his contemporaries, including programmes recreated from the early 1800s; and linking the genius with what our own contemporaries have to say about him.

Angelich, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings Place review - warm embraces from good companions

★★★★ ANGELICH, AURORA ORCHESTRA, COLLON, KINGS PLACE Mozart concerto very much in earnest, sweetness and light in early Beethoven

Mozart concerto very much in earnest, sweetness and light in early Beethoven

"New Dawns" as a title smacked a bit of trying to shoehorn a fairly straightforward Aurora programme in to Kings Place's Nature Unwrapped series. Only Dobrinka Tabakova's short and sweet Dawn made the link, and that was old, not new (composed in 2007). Maybe the dawn intended in Mozart's C minor Piano Concerto, K491.