Vivaldi
Lammermuir Festival 2016, East LothianSunday, 25 September 2016
It’s just a short trip down the A1 from Edinburgh. But East Lothian – with its big skies, wide-open spaces, empty beaches and seemingly inexhaustable supply of quaint, historic villages – feels like a long, long way from the Scottish capital.... Read more... |
Virtuoso Violinists at the BBC, BBC FourSaturday, 12 March 2016
Virtuoso Violinists was an hour of unalloyed informative pleasure that toured televised highlights of great violinists playing great music. Its painless excursion into the western classical canon reminded us why the BBC is the NHS of culture, and we... Read more... |
McGregor/Spuck, Ballett Zürich, Edinburgh PlayhouseFriday, 28 August 2015
New Edinburgh Festival director Fergus Linehan has made it clear he wants to offer things people actually want to see. So including Wayne McGregor - prolific, popular, energetically self-promoting doyen of contemporary dance - in the dance... Read more... |
Tawadros, AAM, Tognetti, Milton CourtFriday, 15 May 2015
Fusion between Christian Venice and the Ottoman east started up at least as early as the 15th century, accompanied by a superb portrait of Sultan Mehmet II attributed to Gentile Bellini (pictured below). So what Egyptian-born oud (read oriental lute... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: CPE Bach, Busoni, VivaldiSaturday, 18 April 2015
CPE Bach: Symphonies Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Rebecca Miller (Signum)Think of musical perfection and you think of JS Bach. Every note perfectly placed, every harmonic sequence pleasing in its logic, every extended structure... Read more... |
Benedetti, La Cetra, Saffron HallSaturday, 28 February 2015
There's a whole fairytale backstory to be told here. The residents of Saffron Walden and the surrounding area still can't quite believe their good fortune. The North Essex town and its state secondary school have been gifted a new 730-seat concert... Read more... |
Benedetti, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSunday, 21 September 2014
Having been put to the fiddle at the age of five, Nicola Benedetti appreciates the value of making music at an early age. She is fiercely committed to music education and developing new talent. So it was a joy to see her playing enthusiastically... Read more... |
A silver rose for Glyndebourne's 80thMonday, 10 March 2014
Der Rosenkavalier, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s 1911 “comedy for music” about love, money and masquerading in a putative 18th-century Vienna, is a repertoire staple around the world. Continental houses throw it together without a... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Bodø: a World of Music inside the Arctic CircleSunday, 11 August 2013
“Rock ‘n’ roll was invented in Bodø about 1922,” declares Elvis Costello before kicking into “A Slow Drag With Josephine”. “Then it crept down to Trondheim,” he continues. “Then the squares in Oslo got it about 1952.” Up here, 25km inside the Arctic... 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... |
theartsdesk Olympics: Athletes at the operaTuesday, 24 July 2012
Triumph, despair, glory and struggle: the Olympic Games might technically be a sporting event, but in spirit and essence they are pure drama. Film-makers may have shouted loudest about this discovery, generating hit after Olympic-themed hit... Read more... |
The South Bank Show: Nicola Benedetti, Sky Arts 1/ The Good Guys, Sky 1Monday, 02 July 2012
There are worse assignments than making a film about Nicola Benedetti, and the glamorous 25-year-old violinist had clearly entranced Lord Bragg. Mind you, you'd struggle to find much to dislike about her. She's funny and articulate and has a billion... Read more... |
