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During the pandemic Stephen Hough has been playing hour-long, interval-free concerts - and loving it. It's time to re-think the traditional concert format, he says.

When my book Rough Ideas was published last year I, like everyone else on the planet, had no idea how much and how quickly life in 2020 would change with Covid-19. Its chapters about music and composers and practising (and even recording) remain pertinent, but the section entitled Stage, about life on the road, backstage, in airports, in hotels – in short, life as a concert pianist – seems like scenes from another world.

There would be additional chapters if it were to be written today: playing for sparse, distanced audiences whose response to the music is hidden behind masks... Keep reading on The Guardian