The French critics may not agree, but with its easy juxtaposition of styles and obstinately hopeful narrative, 'Welcome to the Voice' does make for a decidedly modern opera. And judging from the packed houses and endless ovations during its five-night Paris run, it seems the vox populi, at least, has declared it a success... (© Time)

When Sting was back home in Newcastle recently he signed one of his Fender Precision Signature basses and this is currently being auctioned to raise funds for Acomb Court Residential Care Home in Hexham, near Newcastle. This is a really worthwhile cause and provides Sting fans with the ideal opportunity to get their hands on a fantastic Christmas present for either themselves or a loved one!

What do you after wrapping up the biggest rock tour of the last two years? After all in August Sting finished the grueling 18 month worldwide reunion of The Police that grossed way over $300 million. This week it spawned the bestselling concert video as well...

Sting with bite: Pay $600 to watch The Police? Many did earlier this year, and many will again - to hear its lead singer Sting go classical. Sting: actor, environment activist, tantric sex poster boy. It was not enough for the Englishman that he used to front The Police, which was among the biggest rock bands in the world. It was also apparently not enough for him that his subsequent solo music career encompassed jazz, opera and world music. Restless as the bumblebee which inspired his nickname, the man born Gordon Sumner will be performing classical music in a concert next month at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Not just your average contemporary classical compositions, but 400-year-old Elizabethan pieces from 'Song From The Labyrinth', his 2006 album with Bosnian lute player Edin Karamazov...

A night at the opera with Sting and Elvis: Sting and Costello have been rehearsing an opera. Veterans of the Seventies punk and new-wave movement, the two British stars have since established themselves among the most acclaimed and wide-ranging singer-songwriters in the world. But their new project promises to be something of a departure. From tomorrow, for five nights at the historic Théatre Du Chatelet in Paris, they make their debuts as operatic singers in the premiere of the extraordinary 'Welcome to the Voice...'