What’s special about the 23rd April 2008?

It is the 392nd anniversary of the death of national playwrights William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.
Both died on the same date in 1616 (however, due to the different calendars used in England and Spain at the time, there is actually a 10 day discrepancy between their deaths).

Lebrecht April 2008 Newsletter

Iconic Ralph Vaughan Williams photos with his cat are exclusively represented by Lebrecht. The 50th death anniversary of English composer, Vaughan Williams, falls on 26th August 2008

Vaughan Williams (Dudley Styles) #97507

Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s new opera ‘The Minotaur’ opens at the Royal Opera House on 15th April.

HB listening to a performance of his work (Chris Christodoulou) #98328

Theseus slaying the Minotaur #98442

Suzie Maeder has given us a fabulous collection of state of the art images ideally suited for book covers.

Berlin Wall Memorial #99887

Staircase #99883

South Bank, London #90070

Empty Swimming pool #99890

British artists at work in St Ives, Cornwall by Brian Seed.

John Wells in his studio 1954 #100808

Barbara Hepworth in the garden of her studio 1954 #100811

Obituaries from Lebrecht this month included Hugo Claus - Belgian author, Leonard Rosenman - American film composer, Paul Scofield – English actor.

Paul Schofield as King Lear (John Haynes) #100222

Anniversaries this month: Herbert von Karajan - German conductor born 5th April 1908 Ethel Smyth - English conductor born 23rd April 1858 George Balanchine – Russian choreographer and dancer died 30th April 1983.