Baroque
Issipile, La Nuova Musica, Bates, Wigmore HallThursday, 23 January 2014
A question flitted through my mind in advance. Was I down to review La Nuova Musica’s modern premiere of Conti’s baroque opera Issipile, or was it Issipile’s opera Conti? To many music lovers, even those well grounded in history, both... Read more... |
Sonia Prina, Wigmore HallTuesday, 31 December 2013
The great Marilyn Horne used to joke that she was going to release an album entitled “Chestnuts for Chest Nuts”. She never did, but that leaves the door wide open for Sonia Prina whose dark, thrillingly low sound marks her out as the real deal, a... Read more... |
Prom 34: Nigel Kennedy, Palestine Strings, the Orchestra of LifeFriday, 09 August 2013
There had been a buzz of anticipation about this late-night Prom by Nigel Kennedy, the Palestine Strings and his Orchestra of Life, and it was completely sold out. After a long association with Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and 2.4 million sales of the... Read more... |
Bach Marathon, Royal Albert Hall/ Nick van Bloss, Institut FrancaisTuesday, 02 April 2013
Bach for breakfast, lunch and supper. That in essence was what yesterday's Bach Marathon was about. You can do that with Bach - have him flowing from the taps. Nothing new in this for those of us who experienced the Bach Christmas a few years back... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Sir John Eliot GardinerSaturday, 30 March 2013
It’s only fitting that Sir John Eliot Gardiner should be celebrating his 70th birthday with a concert in the Royal Albert Hall. That it should be a nine-hour marathon of a concert is not only fitting, but entirely predictable for a musician who has... Read more... |
Orpheus, Classical Opera Company, Page, London Handel FestivalSaturday, 23 March 2013
A toast to London’s Handel Festival, now celebrating its 36th year, and to Ian Page’s adventurous Classical Opera Company, for pulling Telemann out of the drawer and placing him in the forefront of this year’s celebrations at St. George’s,... Read more... |
Joyce DiDonato, Il Complesso Barocco, Barbican HallThursday, 07 February 2013
It may look like a sure-fire hit to let Kansas mezzo Joyce DiDonato rip through the drama-queen repertoire of the Baroque. But last night’s exploration of the dustiest, most overgrown byways of 17th and 18th century Italian opera needed every drop... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 2: The Adoration of the MagiThursday, 20 December 2012
Rubens's gigantic masterpiece loudly contradicts the folkloric silent night. This typically muscular painting is deafening in its depiction of the commotion around the holy family when the Magi arrive to offer gifts to the divine king of Christian... Read more... |
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Koopman, Christ Church SpitalfieldsSaturday, 09 June 2012
It’s one thing for UK Border Control to turn Heathrow’s Arrivals into a giant theme-park queue, but it’s quite another when they start messing with our music. Paperwork issues yesterday saw one Japanese and two Korean members of the Amsterdam... Read more... |
Edmund de Waal, Waddesdon ManorFriday, 11 May 2012
From Caro at Chatsworth and now de Waal at Waddesdon, the grandest of the stately homes are invigorating their historic collections with seasonings of the contemporary. Like Chatsworth, Waddesdon also has a growing permanent collection of... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Countertenor Iestyn DaviesSaturday, 05 May 2012
Recently hailed by The Observer as “today’s most exciting British countertenor”, Iestyn Davies is on a roll. Indeed, many critics would – and have – gone further, seeing this young British singer as the natural heir to David Daniels and Andreas... Read more... |
Caro at Chatsworth, Chatsworth HouseSunday, 08 April 2012
The first and most unusual aspect of Caro at Chatsworth is that it is there: 15 outstanding sculptures by Sir Anthony Caro, placed in an irregular pattern around the formal 950ft early-18th-century Canal Pond, situated facing the southern vista... Read more... |
