Bachtrack was founded in January 2008 and is the world's largest site for live and streamed classical music, opera and dance. We list over 30,000 events each year and publish around 130 reviews every month from our team of 150 reviewers based all around the world. We also interview leading singers, instrumentalists, stars of the future and important figures from behind the scenes, and preview festivals, competitions and new seasons.
Our site is published in English, French, German and Spanish, and we employ specialist editors in these languages. Over 200,000 people a month use our website from all corners of the globe.
More information on users and advertising packages is available in Bachtrack at a glance.
Our listings database is uniquely well structured, allowing users to search for events by place, performer, composer or work. We work with many of the world’s top venues and organisations to maintain this service, and to make sure our listings are as comprehensive as they can be.
If you’d like your events listed on the site, our sales department would be delighted to have a chat – you can get in touch here. Please contact us here if you’d like more information about any aspect of the site or would like to work with us.
You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and keep in touch by signing up to our weekly newsletter.
Happy concert-going!
Meet the team
David and Alison Karlin
Founders
David and Alison founded Bachtrack with the aim of bringing more people into the concert hall to experience the wonders of live classical music, opera and dance. This remains the goal and they continue to innovate and to use the technology available in every way possible to keep Bachtrack a site of major interest to lovers of the arts across the world.
David’s love of music and opera started young as he crept onto the landing to listen whenever his parents played opera LPs. After decades of being distracted from music by various day jobs, founding Bachtrack brought music into his working life, especially reviewing opera. David has written and still maintains the software that makes Bachtrack tick; he also does the company’s finances and HR and oversees the editorial side of the site in four languages. When not skiing (his preferred activity), David sings, plays guitar and tennis, swims and cooks.
Alison worked for years in the City of London as a fund manager before starting a family. With overall responsibility for the sales, marketing and content of the site, Alison is endlessly coming up with fresh ideas which David (mainly) talks her out of. She sings alto with a community choir, swims most days and plays a mean game of tennis. She loves early music as well as both Sibelius and Shostakovich but Bach remains the main man for her and she accepts responsibility for naming the website.
Stoyancho Bakovski
Sales Support Manager
Stoyancho (AKA Stole) joined Bachtrack in 2019. He looks after the needs of clients and ensures the smoothest possible running of their accounts, and supports the sales team by providing leads and tools for them. Stole comes from the Republic of North Macedonia, having previously worked for the Macedonian Philharmonic, the Ohrid Summer Festival, the Robert Schumann International Competition in Düsseldorf and as a piano accompanist for the Music and Drama Academies in Skopje. He spends his spare time travelling, reading or going to the theatre.
Clara Colotti
Sales Manager
Clara joined Bachtrack in 2016. In her current role as Sales Manager, she plans and crafts advertising campaigns with her existing clients and for new customers. Clara speaks German, English, Polish, Spanish and some French in addition to her native Italian. Outside office hours, Clara keeps herself busy with her PhD research focusing on how orchestras can use technology to attract audiences. One chapter of her thesis has been presented at the Innovation in Music conference and has been published in the Routledge book of the conference proceedings. When not in front of her laptop, Clara enjoys swimming and hiking.
Lawrence Dunn
Commissioning Editor
Lawrence joined Bachtrack in 2022, and is responsible for interviews and features. Aside from being a writer and editor, he is a composer, improviser, pianist and percussionist. Training at Trinity College of Music, he later attended the universities of Cambridge and Huddersfield, and has taught at both in addition to the University of Sheffield and at the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has also been a primary school music teacher. He has written music for, among others, the BBC Scottish Symphony, Ensemble Modern, Slagwerk Den Haag, Philip Thomas, Juliet Fraser, Ilya Gringolts, Plus Minus, Apartment House and Explore Ensemble.
Jo Johnson
Head of Marketing
Jo joined Bachtrack in 2022 after a 17-year tenure at the London Symphony Orchestra. She is responsible for the marketing strategy of the site, tasked with making sure the world's culture lovers know that Bachtrack is their spiritual home online. A devotee of orchestras since first coming across the BBC Proms on TV at the age of 7, she loves the buzz of seeing people at concerts enjoying the music and experience as much as she does. By night Jo is an amateur violinist and violist, happiest when playing the big symphonic works of the 20th century, and when life allows she enjoys long distance cycling and multi-sports.
Magdalena Kochoska
Administrative Services Officer
Magdalena (AKA Maggie) joined Bachtrack in July 2022. She is responsible for inputting and maintaining listings and website content, and helps with the administration of sales, including the maintenance of advertising placements. She graduated as a conductor and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting in Skopje. She has conducted multiple ensembles in North Macedonia, including the Macedonian Philharmonic. When not in the office, Maggie enjoys singing in choirs, drawing and taking long walks in nature.
Tristan Labouret
French Editor
Tristan is a critic and musicologist based in Paris and has been coordinator and editor of the French language version of Bachtrack since 2018. He collaborates with numerous artists and institutions – such as Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre national d'Île-de-France, chamber music festivals in Deauville, Just Classik Festival, La Symphonie de Poche and more – in the production and presentation of concerts for audiences of all ages. Outside of his professional activities, Tristan loves viola jokes, comic strips and running on the Brittany coastline.
Katia de Miguel
Spanish Editor
Katia joined Bachtrack in 2015 after moving to London. Originally from Madrid, she studied Musicology, Music Teaching and piano. She worked in music libraries, and collaborated with EMI Classics, Teatro Real and Audioclásica. At Bachtrack she is responsible for the Spanish version of the site, which is intended for the Spanish-speaking world; she coordinates the group of Spanish writers and tries to expand the team. After almost ten fantastic years in London, she is based in Madrid again, where she loves attending visual arts exhibitions, concerts, running and snuggling with her small child to share a good story.
Mark Pullinger
English Editor
Mark has been with Bachtrack since 2014 and commissions reviews from his wide-ranging team of writers. He is an experienced critic, writing over 600 reviews for the site, as well as contributing reviews and interviews to Gramophone and Opera magazines. He is a member of the Music and Dance Sections of The Critics’ Circle and he also writes programme notes. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie.
Elisabeth Schwarz
Press Manager and German Editor
Elisabeth used to work for Médecins Sans Frontières in Vienna before joining Bachtrack in April 2017, where she organises all press tickets for reviewers (around 150 a month) and is responsible for the German language version of the site, editing and publishing reviews as well as creating content. Growing up in a small Austrian village, she fell in love with music while playing the clarinet with her local marching band. She later joined a symphonic wind orchestra in Vienna with whom she performed at the Goldene Saal at the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus. In the office, Elisabeth loves communicating with dozens of promoters and press officers worldwide every single day; outside, she has a soft spot for Schubert Lieder, Salome and pastries.
Deborah Weiss
Dance Editor
Deb joined Bachtrack in 2022 and commissions reviews and writing on ballet and dance. She was Royal Ballet School-trained and is a former principal dancer for companies including London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) and Bayerisches Staatsballett. She has been writing for almost 30 years – publications have included Dancing Times, DanceTabs, Dance for You and Dance Europe. She also interviews for Voices of British Ballet, an oral archive of people who have worked in the industry in the UK. In addition to her writing, since 2016 she has been facilitating programmes that support victims of domestic abuse. Deb is passionate about her two rescue dogs and daughters (not in that order), swims a mile at least five days a week and is an avid reader.
Our Contributors
You can read more about our Bachtrack reviewers and writers here. If you would like to join our team of writers, please get in touch.
Working for us
We do not currently have any full time vacancies on our staff team.
Legals
We are Bachtrack Ltd, registered in England, company no. 06443197, registered office 30B Lynton Road, London, N8 8SL, United Kingdom.
