tue 14/01/2025

percussion

Tubular Bells, The Charles Hazlewood All Stars, St George's Bristol

Tubular Bells, the first half of which is being currently revived as a live piece in the UK, sold between 15 and 17 million units worldwide. Quite apart from the work’s innocence being co-opted and made spooky in William Friedkin's The Exorcist,...

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My Summer Reading: Percussionist Colin Currie

Third in line to share their summer reading selection with theartsdesk is Colin Currie (b 1976), the leading percussionist of his generation. A driving force behind new percussion repertoire for more than a decade, in 2000 Currie was awarded the...

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Royal New Zealand Ballet, From Here to There, Barbican Theatre

Simmons's 'A Song in the Dark': Simple, graceful moves with spacious shape and depth

All ballet companies dream of finding a genuine creative talent among their ranks, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet, visiting from the farthest end of the world ballet map, have one in Andrew Simmons. The unknown name on their triple bill on this...

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Hofesh Shechter, Political Mother: The Choreographer's Cut, Sadler's Wells

Only three years ago, Hofesh Shechter, the Israeli-born, London-based choreographer, made the leap into the big leagues, almost overnight, with his Uprising/In Your Rooms double bill. The following year he produced a "Choreographer’s Cut", a bulked-...

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theartsdesk in Cheltenham: Seven Concerts in Two Days

For so many days a year, Cheltenham's Regency symmetry and conservative values totter and buckle as they veer dangerously towards relative festive liberalism. As I sliced into one of the four annual beanfeasts, the Cheltenham Music Festival, it...

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CD: Marilyn Mazur - Celestial Circle

One of the great strengths of Manfred Eicher's ECM label is the way in which it has encouraged and documented many unlikely yet fruitful musical collaborations throughout its thousand-plus discography. First assembled for her season as artist-in-...

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Sonny Rollins, Barbican

Sonny Rollins: Octogenarian colossus

"Being asked to introduce this artist”, began the compere, “is like being asked to introduce God." Fans of Eric Clapton, of course, might beg to differ. But in jazz terms, Sonny Rollins, self-proclaimed “saxophone colossus”, has indisputably been on...

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BBC Symphony Orchestra 80th Birthday Concert, Barbican

Kari Kriikku as Kaija Saariaho's unicorn, with David Robertson conducting the BBCSO

Eighty years ago yesterday, the 41-year-old Adrian Boult launched the distinguished history of what was then a 114-strong BBC Symphony Orchestra with Wagner's Flying Dutchman Overture in Portland Place. Three months later ice-and-fire Ernest...

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Tony Allen, Barbican

Happy Birthday, Tony! Last night the great Nigerian musician celebrated the fact that he has spent 70 years on the planet, with 52 of those years exploring – as no other drummer has explored – the humble kit drum (or drum kit if you prefer). This...

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