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GRAHAM'S MUSIC
Classical Music Demystified
I'm Graham Abbott, an Australian music educator and former conductor and broadcaster. This blog was devised as a sanity-saving project in 2020 when lockdowns meant that I lost a year's work almost overnight. Here I write about classical music and share its inside stories. Until September 2025, most of these stories were be based on scripts which I wrote and presented on "Keys To Music" on ABC Classic between 2003 and 2017. (Many thanks to the ABC for permission to use this material.) From September 2025 I am focusing on sharing my experiences as a music tour leader for Hayllar Music Tours.
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Christmas and New Year in Europe, December 2025 and January 2026
18 December: And now for my tenth and final tour (and the fifth in Europe) for Hayllar Music Tours in 2025. The Christmas/New Year tour I've done twice before, taking in Berlin, Prague and Vienna. I'm leaving Adelaide, where it was 41° today, and due in Berlin, where it's predicted to be 10° tomorrow. ..... 20 December: Tonight's office: Philharmonie Berlin. Program: Bach Mass in B minor, Berlin Philharmonic, RIAS Chamber Choir, soloists, Raphaël Pichon. State: Excited. After
Graham Abbott
Jan 1213 min read
A Weekend of Piano Quintets, October 2025
16 October: Heading off from Sydney by road later this morning to the Hunter Valley for our final Hayllar Music Tours chamber music weekend for this year. The Art of the Piano Quintet will feature some of the greatest works in the quintet repertoire (and some talks by yours truly). Our artists are pianist Daniel de Borah and Spanish string quartet Cuarteto Quiroga . ..... Day 1 of The Art of the Piano Quintet - Thursday - saw us arrive at Spicers Guesthouse in the Hunter
Graham Abbott
Oct 22, 20255 min read
My first visit to Romania: September 2025 Bucharest, Sibiu and Braşov
16 September: It's Tuesday so it must be Bucharest. I arrived yesterday afternoon after my flight from Munich. Our Hayllar Music Tours tour starts with a reception and dinner this evening so this morning I wandered around the area surrounding our hotel. The two main performance venues for the George Enescu Festival are literally a few minutes' walk from the hotel. The Romanian Athenaeum is a grand, 19th century concert hall, opened in 1888, while the Palace Hall is a more br
Graham Abbott
Sep 30, 202515 min read
An Interlude in Munich: September 2025
1 September: My two week stay in Munich is a period I have to myself between two Hayllar Music Tours tours. I decided to stay in Europe rather than enduring two further bouts of jetlag by returning home then coming back. I have no plans, just a few thoughts on things I might do, plus I want to rest, and I also have work to do on talks for future tours. Given the focus of my tour work - music - I'm pretty sure my focus here will be visual as I have no desire to attend perform
Graham Abbott
Sep 30, 20259 min read
Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, August 2025
27 August: Our long coach ride from Salzburg to Mellau on Wednesday was broken by a visit to Innsbruck. While in this beautiful historic town we had a guided walking tour and had time for lunch. The drive from Innsbruck to Mellau gave me my first opportunity to experience the stunning grandeur of the Alps in this part of Austria. It really is a special part of the world. We will be attending concerts in nearby Schwarzenberg over the next few days. Mellau and Schwarzenberg are
Graham Abbott
Sep 14, 20256 min read
Salzburg Festival, August 2025
22 August: I was last in Salzburg for three days in January 2024, an occasion which was my first visit to this beautiful city. Rich with musical associations - and not just Mozart - it's the home of the famous Salzburg Festival, into which we'll be dipping our collective toes over the next few days. As we walked to dinner, we went through the famous Mirabell Gardens. They looked very different to when I last saw them. Last year they were wet and soggy under snowy slush. Not s
Graham Abbott
Sep 14, 20257 min read
A Weekend of String Quartets, August 2025
14 August: The first Hayllar Music Tours chamber music weekend for this year is underway here at Spicers Hidden Vale resort in...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20252 min read
Aix en Provence Festival, July 2025
12 July: Our Hayllar Music Tours tour to the Aix en Provence Festival is underway. It's hot and very busy but the old town is as beautiful and beguiling as I remember from our visit last year. Saturday was our first full day; Friday was "limited" to a welcome drinks reception and dinner. On Saturday morning we had a guided walking tour of the old town with Adrien, who was our wonderful guide last year. Being summer tourist season, and market day, the town was buzzing and ex
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20257 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 18 May 2025
And so the tenth and final day of this Hayllar Music Tours visit to Amsterdam has come to an end. What a journey! We had a beautiful...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20252 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 17 May 2025
Our second-last full day on this Hayllar Music Tours visit to Amsterdam started with a quiet morning. This afternoon we had another...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 16 May 2025
Day 8 in Amsterdam. Mahler 8 in the Concertgebouw. What can I say? The host orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, was back on the...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 15 May 2025
Our Hayllar Music Tours visit to Amsterdam hit day 7 today and it was a busy one. This morning we made our way (by coach) to The Hague,...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 14 May 2025
Day 6 in Amsterdam was quieter on the official schedule. This allowed me time to catch up with wonderful people I last saw in Sydney...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 13 May 2025
Another bucket list item ticked off today with here in Amsterdam with a visit to the Rijksmuseum. This is one of the great art galleries...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 12 May 2025
Day 4 of our Hayllar Music Tours visit to Amsterdam saw us walking to and from a beautiful lunch - and the weather continues to be...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 11 May, 2025
Day 3 in Amsterdam started with a real bucket list check: a visit to the van Gogh Museum. We had a excellent guide who took us through...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 10 May 2025
Day 2 of our Hayllar Music Tours visit to Amsterdam started with a morning canal cruise from our hotel to the centre of town, followed...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
Mahler in Amsterdam, 9 May 2025
Just back from the first concert - of ten - in the 2025 Concertgebouw Mahler Festival. This being my first visit to Amsterdam it was also...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20251 min read
My new life...
In the Austrian Alps, between Innsbruck and Mellau (August 2025) Well my plans for making more posts along the lines of those I've shared...
Graham Abbott
Sep 13, 20253 min read
A long-overdue update
It's nearly three years since I added an article to this blog and yet it continues to get so many hits and garner so many new members. I...
Graham Abbott
Oct 23, 20242 min read
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