Intermezzo

Not quite Lang Lang

See, you don't need years of expensive music lessons. A cage of Asian small-clawed otters at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. display their keyboard skills.

You want more?

The National Zoo has more.

Audition time

This is what went down when the Pittsburgh Symphony auditioned a bunch of guest artistes recently.

Four legs better

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is holding auditions. Applicants must submit video evidence that they can:

  • sit on command
  • stay on command
  • bark on command
  • stay silent on command

As none of these skills come naturally to professional musicians, the orchestra is looking for four dogs instead. The successful applicants will join musicians on stage in a performance of Leopold Mozart's Jagdsinfonie on 9 June.

If I was in Pittsburgh I'd beg for a ticket for the live final auditions on 13 May.

(With thanks to Amanda Ameer).

What's got four legs and works with Pierre Boulez?

Next year's Mozart Week in Salzburg will open to the clatter of hooves and a faint whiff of poo.

The man who turned dressage into theatrical art, Bartabas, is bringing his equine troupe to the Felsenreitschule. With music directed by Marc Minkowski, the dancing horses will accompany the rarely performed Mozart cantata Davide Penitente.

It's not the first time Bartabas has saddled up with a classical partner. His current show uses the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria, and back in 2000, Pierre Boulez led the Orchestre de Paris in an equine spectacular based around Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

Le nozze di Figaro wigs out

Le nozze di Figaro - Royal Opera House, 16 September 2013

Now this is more like it. After the disappointing start to the ROH season with Turandot comes the best revival yet of David McVicar's 2006 production. The comedy sparkles, the social satire bites, and three and a half hours pass in no time.

Fiddling with a mouse in your pants

Ever noticed a curious bulge - not violin shaped - in Hilary Hahn's pants? Neither, apparently, did airport security.

"I used to have a pet mouse and that worked for about two years. His name was Mars, like the planet. I had these giant cargo pants; a lot of people thought I was trying to dress that way purposely, but no, I got the biggest cargo pants I could find so I could put a temporary mouse house in my pants. That was before security pat-downs. Just around the time when security got really tight and those started, he passed away. There was a lot that could go wrong traveling with a mouse though. Like when the suitcase with his litter and toys doesn’t arrive and you’re there with a mouse in your pocket. That happened in Germany. The person picking me up had to drive me to a pet store to find temporary cage and all of that."