With its 440 photographs, this book, which is unique in its kind, highlights important milestones in the history of music that have also been formative for us. VOICES offers insights into the life stories of artists. Outstanding performers tell us about experiences with their colleagues, renowned personalities in the music and theater scene. And they also give us glimpses into their private realms: making music at home with their families, social backgrounds, and such sensitive themes as setbacks, fears, or long-yearned-for appreciation, and how they found the key to their voices. This impressive volume represents history from 1945 to the present, passed down by way of personal accounts. The texts are based on conversations conducted by Christine Cerletti and Thomas Voigt during the pandemic in 2021/22, or they were written by the artists themselves. Choosing diverse approaches, they outline how the stage can become an emotional space. Their stories are musical history narrated from a personal perspective. The desire to share things is incredibly strong. What remains after the caesura established by the pandemic: (musical) theater is closeness. Artists: Michele Angelini, Benjamin Appl, Marco Armiliato, Nikolaus Bachler, Cecilia Bartoli, Piotr Beczaa, Benjamin Bernheim, Ivor Bolton, Rudolf Buchbinder, Okka von der Damerau, Diana Damrau, Lise Davidsen, Helmut Deutsch, Mark Elder, Tara Erraught, Brigitte Fassbaender, Renée Fleming, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sol Gabetta, Elna Garana, Daniele Gatti, Alban Gerhardt, Anja Harteros, Thomas Hengelbrock, Ioan Holender, Ermonela Jaho, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Jürgen Kesting, Sophie Koch, Dagmar Koller, Barrie Kosky, Jochen Kowalski, Brian Large, Christa Ludwig, Ambrogio Maestri, Jack Mastroianni, Sunnyi Melles, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Edda Moser, Regula Mühlemann, Camilla Nylund, Kristne Opolais, Anne Sofie von Otter, Antonio Pappano, Mauro Peter, Marlis Petersen, Luca Pisaroni, Anita Rachvelishvili, Sondra Radvanovsky, Bogdan Roi, Golda Schultz, Anja Silja, Bo Skovhus, Frederica von Stade, Pinchas Steinberg, Nina Stemme, Bryn Terfel, Ludovic Tézier, Christian Thielemann, Lorenzo Viotti, Franz Welser-Möst, Jörg Widmann, Judith Williams, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Johanna Wokalek, Pretty Yende, Sonya Yoncheva

James Jolly was editor of Gramophone, the world's most respected classical record magazine, from 1989 to 2005. He has co-presented a monthly new releases programme for XM Classics, part of the US-based satellite radio network, XM Radio based in Washington DC, and also hosted Virgin Atlantic's classical music programme. He has co-hosted the Midem Classical Awards in Cannes. His written contributions outside Gramophone include articles for The Grove Dictionary of Opera. His first professional encounter with BBC radio included a period as one of the producers of Saturday Review (the precursor of CD Review) at the end of the 1980s.