The news that Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak have had a little tenorino--and congrats to them--prompts us to look at a few other musical family ties.
Presenting, then, Classicalite's Five Best...Classical Music Families.
Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kozena, the conductor and the mezzo, also expecting another child, and incidentally there have been some pretty thrilling musical collaborations along the way.
The Wallfisch clan, and there are none more talented, are music through and through. Probably the best known, as yet, is the cellist Raphael Wallfisch, son of the cellist and Holocaust survivor Anota, and his pianist father Peter. He is married to the violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch and their son is the conductor and composer Benjamin Wallfisch.
The Lloyd Webbers, that is composer Andrew, and cellist and one might also say tireless music outreach advocate Julian, everyone tends to forget were sired by a leading British composer, William Lloyd Webber. Julian now has expanded the musical family gatherings by marrying the cellist Jiaxin Cheng (they perform and record together).
David Robertson and Orli Shaham, the conductor and the pianist, are together the Shaham-Robertsons, or the Robertson-Shahams, or possibly just Mr. Robertson and Mrs. Shaham, but anyway they're married. Which makes the violinist Gil Shaham David Robertson's brother-in-law. But we're sure you were ahead of us on that one.
Susan Bullock and Richard Berkeley-Steele, the world-famous Wagner soprano and the less-famous-but-should-be Wagner tenor. While her voice has gradually expanded from its Puccini-esque beginnings, his was always that rarest of things, a lyrical voice able to cope with Wagner's heavy demands in a very musical way.
And lest we forget that happiest of couples, here's Roberto Alagna and Alexandra Kurzak (with Fabio Capitanucci) at Covent Garden back in November 2012.
