The Man Who Could Upstage Dame Judi At The Prom

The Man Who Could Upstage Dame Judi At The Prom | reviews, news & interviews

The Man Who Could Upstage Dame Judi At The Prom

Introducing Dr Paul Whittaker OBE, who brings music to the deaf

by Jasper ReesMonday, 26 July 2010

'You start and you finish and that's it': the profoundly deaf Paul Whittaker signs 'Jerusalem' with The Sixteen

It has just been announced that Dame Judi Dench will be making her Proms debut this Saturday. Sondheim at 80 is the occasion, and she will reprise her rendition of “Send in the Clowns” from the National’s 1985 production of A Little Night Music. “It’s yours now,” Sondheim told her when he heard her performance. She will line up alongside Bryn Terfel, Simon Russell Beale, Daniel Evans, Maria Friedman, Caroline O’Connor, Julian Ovenden and Jenna Russell, as well as the BBC Concert Orchestra and a chorus of singers from the BBC Performing Arts Fund, all under the baton of David Charles Abell. But there is one less celebrated performer at the Prom who will be stealing a bit of limelight. And all without uttering a sound.

In effect he is speaking three simultaneous languages. Throw in his twinkling charisma, and the effect is intoxicating

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