Classical Features
'Their DNA is forever ingrained in the keys' - Roman Rabinovich on playing composers' own pianosThursday, 09 November 2017
I was recently in the UK for some solo recitals and to make my debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. One of the highlights of the trip was playing a similar programme in two very different settings: first on some magnificent period instruments and then a week later on a modern Steinway piano at Wigmore Hall. Read more... |
In search of Proust's 'Vinteuil Sonata': violinist Maria Milstein on the writer's musical mysteryTuesday, 07 November 2017
I remember very well the first time I read Swann’s Way, the first part of Marcel Proust’s monumental masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu). Read more... |
Lammermuir Festival 2017 review - rich and deeply rewardingTuesday, 26 September 2017
Increasingly, the Lammermuir Festival is – one audience member whispered conspiratorially to me – what East Lothian music lovers are switching to alongside the Edinburgh International Festival. It’s insidious to compare, of course – but still, you can see the attraction. Read more... |
Michael Volpe on a Requiem for Grenfell: 'one of the most remarkable evenings in our history'Thursday, 03 August 2017
On the morning of the Grenfell Tower disaster, as the news of the fire gathered pace and gravity, our phones were abuzz with concern for our front of house colleague, Debbie Lamprell, who we knew lived in the tower. We all called her number time and again, sought to reassure one another with optimistic scenarios whereby her telephone may have been left at home as she escaped. My telephone rang again. Read more... |
Pick of the 2017 BBC Proms: from Orthodox chant to Oklahoma!Saturday, 08 July 2017
It’s the best-looking Proms season on paper for quite a few years. Read more... |
'Oh, the glamour!' - Roderick Williams weighs up a singer's lifeThursday, 06 July 2017
“So, what do you do for a living?” You might think this question, the mainstay of any polite conversation with a new acquaintance, would be just the moment any opera singer would relish. Here is the chance to declare who we are, what we do, and to bask in some adulation. “An opera singer? No, really? That must be so glamorous…” and so on. Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Istanbul Music Festival: East and West in perfect balanceWednesday, 14 June 2017
The time is out of joint for Turkey at the moment, but it’s still a country equally split between those looking to the west for the culture of ideas and the more conservative element which at least needs its voice respected. They co-exist peacefully in a great cosmopolitan city like Istanbul, which recently joined Ankara and Izmir in rejecting increased powers for its leader. Read more... |
'You are my hero, dear Jiří': Karita Mattila and others remember Jiří BělohlávekWednesday, 07 June 2017
The first of Jiří Bělohlávek’s final three appearances in London, conducting his Czech Philharmonic in a concert performance of Janáček’s Jenůfa, came as a shock. The trademark grey curly hair had vanished. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Göttingen: Handel for allSaturday, 03 June 2017
"Love is in the air," croons or rather bellows presenter Juri Tetzlaff, getting his audience of adults and children to bellow back the wordless refrain, arms swaying above their heads. Mezzo Sophie Rennert, dragged up as noble Lotario, and soprano Marie Lys as widowed princess Adelaide dance tenderly to the strains. Read more... |
theartsdesk on the Seine: a second new concert hall for ParisFriday, 05 May 2017
It's funny how Parisians grumble about any major new venue which lies outside their chic central stamping ground. Read more... |
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