A Conversation With MARTYN BRABBINS & TOM SCHENK: Vaughan Williams’ ‘A Pilgrim’s Progress’ at ENO
Vaughan Williams’ rapturous “Morality” (his chosen description) of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress comes to English National Opera for its first fully professional staging since its premiere at the Festival of Britain in 1951. It’s a bold…
Will Young at the Kit Kat
It should not be underestimated what Will Young achieves as Emcee in the current West End revival of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret. In a sense the director of the show, Rufus Norris, has greedily capitalised on Young’s…
Three Sisters, the Young Vic, and the extraordinary Benedict Andrews
Three of the best things I have seen in the theatre over the last couple of years have been directed by the same man – Benedict Andrews. The ENO/Young Vic’s extraordinary The Return of Ulysses, the Sydney…
Calendar Girls (and Boys)
In the ever unpredictable world of opera there are those, it has to be said, who wear rather less onstage than they do off but the image below – Dame Felicity Lott enjoying a little fantasy poolside…
London Symphony Orchestra, Petrenko, Barbican Hall (Review)
It should have been Sir Colin Davis, of course (and the news filtering through on Sir Colin is sadly not encouraging), but the very first chord of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto was a startling demonstration of what makes…
Mozart “Don Giovanni”, English National Opera, London Coliseum (Review)
“Coming Soon”, declares the contentious poster, though even the notion that Don Giovanni would have the time or the inclination to open the packet leave alone use the condom hardly squares with the reckless dash of Mozart…
Mercury Musical Developments at 20
Presenting the Sydney Brown Memorial Award 2012 to Denise Wright and Chris Burgess for a show called Emerald (which I hope is a better whole than the two numbers representing it here) Michael Ball recalled the original…
The Promotional EPK (Electronic Press Kit) Interview
I’m often asked to drive video interviews for promotional purposes – and tomorrow I’ll be doing just that for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with a young Russian born but now naturalised American pianist, Natasha Peremski, whose parents…
A Conversation With The ELIAS STRING QUARTET
The vibrant ELIAS STRING QUARTET are 14 years young, well established, and well respected on the international scene. Former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and recipients of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2010, they are at…
Idina Menzel, Apollo Theatre *** (Review)
Even if you were the star of The Wizard of Oz prequel it takes chutzpah to sing that song before making your entrance. But then Idina Menzel was never one for subtlety or understatement. She emerged from…