conductors
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. That might just be a different way of saying we like it, but no-one could reproach Director David Pickard for lack of original programming or diversity (look at the whole, bigger... 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. Clearly he had undergone chemotherapy, but... Read more... |
Gurrelieder, Hallé, BBCPO, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterMonday, 05 June 2017
It may not have had the symbolism of the Ariana Grande concert just down the road, but in its own way the joint Hallé/BBC Philharmonic performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder said as much about Manchester as the rock jamboree did. It was originally... Read more... |
Koen Kessels: 'there's a joke in ballet we only have two tempi' - interviewWednesday, 31 May 2017
Koen Kessels is on a mission to change the culture around music in ballet. Anyone who has heard the Belgian conduct will know that he is the right person for the job: Kessels makes the classic scores come alive in the pit like nobody else I’ve heard... Read more... |
10 Questions for Conductor Paavo JärviSaturday, 04 March 2017
Now at the very top of his game and master of sundry great orchestras around the world, Paavo Järvi is the conductor students of the art like to follow for his perfect technique. Time was when he seemed like the cooler version of his peerless father... Read more... |
Farewell, Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1923-2017)Friday, 24 February 2017
Bruckner conductors improve with age: Haitink, Blomstedt, Gielen – octogenarians all. But Stanisław Skrowaczewski went further, conducting his favourite composer almost to his death, this week at the age of 93. And more than any of his... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Jakub HrůšaSaturday, 04 February 2017
Only four flutes were on stage at the start of Jakub Hrůša’s latest concert with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the reins of which he took over from Jonathan Nott last September. Charles Ives would have been amazed to hear his “Voices of Druids” on... Read more... |
Sunday Book: Haruki Murakami - Absolutely on MusicSunday, 30 October 2016
Every fan of his fiction knows that Haruki Murakami loves jazz and lets the music play throughout his books. Yet in this 320-page dialogue between the novelist and his equally eminent compatriot, conductor Seiji Ozawa, it’s the veteran maestro of... Read more... |
Martyn Brabbins: a safe pair of hands at ENOFriday, 21 October 2016
No-one can easily replace Mark Wigglesworth as Music Director of English National Opera: ask any of the musicians working there and you'll find they're all heartbroken. That said, they could not have chosen a nicer man or a better all-round musician... Read more... |
Interview: Sir Neville Marriner and the I, Culture OrchestraSunday, 02 October 2016
We’re in Gdańsk for the launch of the I, Culture Orchestra (sounds like an Apple product, someone points out). The new outfit has Sir Neville Marriner as guest conductor, at 87, still on sparkling form. The orchestra has brought together young... Read more... |
Eyes and teeth: Conductors at the 2016 PromsMonday, 12 September 2016
The concert photographer Chris Christodoulou has been taking pictures at the BBC Proms for 35 years. Even more than the musicians under their baton, he spends his time watching conductors like a hawk, observing their every gesture and grimace. Every... Read more... |
Q&A Special: Sir Mark Elder on DvořákSunday, 01 May 2016
This May the Hallé is celebrating Dvořák. The orchestra’s music director Sir Mark Elder has previously mounted a festival of the Czech composer’s work in Chicago, but now brings him home to Manchester. Nature, Life and Love features seven concerts... Read more... |
