Manchester
Martinpelto, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSunday, 09 March 2014
No one could accuse Manchester’s musical forces of short-changing Richard Strauss on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth. Under the title Strauss’s Voice, over two months three orchestras, eight conductors and a dozen soloists have... Read more... |
Davislim, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSunday, 02 March 2014
It’s the thought that counts. That’s what we say about presents. But when the gift is a song by Richard Strauss it is that and more. He made a habit of gifting songs, particularly to his wife Pauline. Several of the Six Orchestral Songs on... Read more... |
Orlando, Royal Exchange, ManchesterWednesday, 26 February 2014
“It’s all about you and the lusts of your flesh and the lure of your mind,” advised Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West when writing the spoof biography Orlando as a “love letter” to her. When she had finished the novel, depicting Vita as an... Read more... |
Final curtain for the Library TheatreWednesday, 19 February 2014
We are witnessing the end of an era in the long history of Manchester’s theatreland: the disappearance, after more than 60 years, of the treasured Library Theatre. Coming full circle, it is ending as it began, with a production of The Seagull.... Read more... |
A Taste of Honey, National TheatreWednesday, 19 February 2014
Another week, another postwar classic. Hot on the heels of last week’s revival of Oh What a Lovely War comes another legendary play from the Joan Littlewood museum of great one-offs. This time it’s a restaging of Shelagh Delaney’s 1958 play about... Read more... |
Schwanewilms, Hallé, Stenz, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterThursday, 06 February 2014
“How tired we are of travelling,” the soprano sings, underscored by a solo horn. The end is near: “Is this perhaps death?” No fuss, no drama, but weariness and a calm acceptance. Since Strauss and his wife Pauline were in their eighties and living... Read more... |
Blindsided, Royal Exchange, ManchesterWednesday, 29 January 2014
There’s no place like home – and home for writer Simon Stephens is Stockport. He doesn’t live there any more, but he was born there in 1971 and still finds the place, particularly its seedier side, a rich source of emotionally charged material. So,... Read more... |
Williams, BBCPO, Hallé, Mena, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSaturday, 25 January 2014
There are occasions when just one band isn’t enough. Hence the rare experience of the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic joining forces for a performance, in the Strauss’s Voice series celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, of An... Read more... |
Sherratt, Hallé, Znaider, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterFriday, 10 January 2014
It’s all about the voice – Strauss’s Voice, which is the title of the series of concerts being given by the musical forces of Manchester to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. It is becoming a happy custom these days for the Hallé, the BBC... Read more... |
Currie, BBC Philharmonic, Mena, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSaturday, 07 December 2013
It was ironic, yet seasonal, that the BBC Philharmonic’s conductor-composer H K Gruber, who is said to be a descendant of the man who wrote “Silent Night” (Franz Xaver Gruber), should take centre stage with a rip-roaring, roof-raising percussion... Read more... |
The Verdi-Boito Story, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterMonday, 25 November 2013
How do you mark the Verdi bicentenary? As music director of the Hallé Orchestra and a Verdi specialist, Sir Mark Elder gave it a lot of thought. He decided to tell a story rather than direct a concert performance of one opera – say, La traviata. The... Read more... |
Sweeney Todd, Royal Exchange, ManchesterWednesday, 06 November 2013
How many times can a director re-work the same show and still come up with something fresh, gripping and memorable? This is James Brining’s third version of Sondheim’s killer thriller musical Sweeney Todd. He produced an award-winning version in... Read more... |
