Sinfini Music

Sinfini Music is a classical music website containing written features and reviews, news, animations, cartoons, quizzes and filmed sessions. The site is owned by Universal Music Group but is editorially independent, covering music and releases from all record labels, artists and venues.

Content

Sinfini Music's tagline is “Cutting through classical” and the site focuses on presenting the cornerstones of Western classical repertoire in accessible and engaging ways. Where relevant, classical is extended to the outer frontiers of jazz, electronica, world and other genres: exclusive interviews and performances have been recorded with Daniel Barenboim, Joyce DiDonato, Valentina Lisitsa, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Hauschka and Anoushka Shankar.

The editorial team comprises journalists, critics and writers hailing from BBC Music magazine, Arts Desk, BBC Radio 3, Gramophone and The Observer, including Fiona Maddocks, Amanda Holloway, Peter Meanwell and Alexandra Coghlan. Regular contributors include Norman Lebrecht, Paul Morley, Kimon Daltas, Jessica Duchen, Harriet Smith, Gavin Dixon and Colin Anderson.

Criticism

Concern has been voiced that Sinfini, funded by Universal Music, lacks critical independence. The blogger Opera Creep has written "Most importantly the funding status or any mention to Universal has been removed from the About section on the site. A new visitor to it would possibly mistake it for an independent voice “cutting through classical” but I am afraid that fig leaf can’t quite hide the fact that Universal bankroll them at the tune of millions." Other concerns raised have included the suggestion that Lebrecht was invited on board to silence his criticisms, while the music critic Igor Toronyi-Lalic has written of Sinfini's "ingratiating tweeness".

References

1. Norman Lebrecht "Classical music media will never look the same again" (November 2012)

External links

• Official website