Edinburgh
RSNO, Davis, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review – warm Elgar, chilly Vaughan Williams, red hot playingSaturday, 26 February 2022
“You’ll have to forgive me”, said Sir Andrew Davis at the start of this concert’s second half, “but I’m going to sit down.” As he lowered himself onto his podium stool, he let it slip that this was the first concert he had conducted in more than two... Read more... |
Grosvenor, SCO, Emelyanychev / Osborne, RSNO, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - two orchestras in pursuit of innovationTuesday, 08 February 2022
Two pianists; two concertos; two orchestras. It is not often that Edinburgh’s most venerable concert hall plays host, on consecutive nights, to two of our national orchestras offering strikingly similar programmes.While the Scottish Chamber... Read more... |
Messiah, Dunedin Consort, Butt, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh - period clarity infused with loveMonday, 20 December 2021
This time last year, the moment I knew things were really bad was when the Dunedin Consort cancelled Messiah. All performances since the summer of 2020 had been online films, but Dunedin cancelled even their online Messiah because it would involve... Read more... |
Grace Petrie, Summerhall, Edinburgh review - songs of solidarityMonday, 22 November 2021
“How to explain Theresa May?” Grace Petrie muses from the Summerhall stage as she introduces decade-old opener “Farewell To Welfare”. “Well, in 2010, she was as bad as we thought it was going to get.”That is, on the face of it, the problem with... Read more... |
Dennis, SCO, Whelan, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - period touches and classical sparkleSaturday, 30 October 2021
Peter Whelan is best known to Scottish audiences from his years of service as principal bassoon in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He left to pursue other projects several years ago, the most illustrious of which has probably been his work with the... Read more... |
Delepelaire, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - festive and magicalMonday, 25 October 2021
“What a lovely sound that was!” declared Music Director Thomas Søndergård, bounding onto the podium of the Usher Hall. He was referring, of course, to the warm applause greeting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on its first full outing in front... Read more... |
Geniušas, SCO, Emelyanychev, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - glorious return to a much-missed venueSaturday, 02 October 2021
This concert almost had me in tears before a single note was played because it marked (joy!) the first classical concert to take place in the Usher Hall since it was shut in March 2020. She has been closed for eighteen long months, but she hasn’t... Read more... |
Ariadne auf Naxos, Edinburgh International Festival review – apt setting for Strauss hybridMonday, 30 August 2021
This lively interpretation of Richard Strauss’s opera within an opera provides a feast for the senses as a musical highlight of the Edinburgh international Festival. As with the rest of the festival’s 2021 programme, the opera is performed outdoors... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2021: Screen 9Monday, 23 August 2021
The popcorn on offer as you enter the Pleasance’s performing space at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre quickly fills the air with its rich, sugary scent. It’s a smell that sets the scene nicely for a show set in a cinema, but also an... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2021: StillSaturday, 21 August 2021
Ageing Mick wakes up on Portobello beach with two gold rings in his pocket, and embarks on the bender to end all benders in order to work out what or who they’re for. Young Gilly has a poorly pug named Mr Immanuel Kant, but can’t face having it put... Read more... |
Baker, Chineke! Orchestra, Eddins, Edinburgh International Festival review - women's stories told by womenThursday, 19 August 2021
The Edinburgh International Festival has returned this year, with a programme of socially distanced events held almost completely outdoors. Yup, that’s right. Outdoors. In Scotland. (Top tip: if you’re going to one of the 8pm concerts, wear a winter... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2021: Fear of Roses / Myra's StoryThursday, 19 August 2021
Fear of Roses Assembly Roxy ★★★One of the more disconcerting aspects to this year’s Fringe is different venues’ contrasting reactions to the easing of Covid restrictions. Some – like Army @ The Fringe and the Traverse Theatre – maintain... Read more... |
