Reviews
Partnerships between composer and librettist are an essential complexity in the composition of successful opera. Some examples in its history include Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, Verdi and Arrigo Boito, Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal and of course Gilbert and Sullivan. The pairing of Mozart and his Italian librettist produced
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Three star singers appeared on stage together in a unique and intelligently devised programme. The three singers were English soprano Sophie Bevan, Welsh mezzo soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Welsh bass-baritone Neal Davies. And the raison d’etre? These three singers happened to be in Mumbai to sing in
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The Symphony Orchestras of India’s tour of the UK concluded on Monday evening at London’s Cadogan Hall with an exuberant program of Weber, Bruch and Rachmaninov, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The SOI’s Associate Music Director Zane Dalal made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the evening.
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Symphony Orchestra of India Cadogan Hall, London, 20 February 2019 Zane Dalal, conductor Zakir Hussain, tabla. Hector Berlioz, Roman Carnival Overture Zakir Hussain, Concerto for Tabla and Orchestra ‘Peshkar’ Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 24 February 2019 Martyn Brabbins, conductor Marat Bisengaliev, violin Carl Maria von Weber, Oberon
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The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) began their inaugural tour of the UK at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on 19th February 2019. The programme included a UK-premiere of Zakir Hussain’s tabla concerto, Peshkar (2015), sandwiched between two ever-popular works for symphony orchestra – Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture
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Ever since the upsurge in targeted violence against the Rohingya since August 2017, Médécins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) has been the most effective international organization providing sustained medical help to the refugees in Bangladesh. The benefit concert at Carnegie Hall on January 28, organized collaboratively by the MSF and Music for
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On Monday January 21, 2019 The Olga and Jules Craen Foundation presented a recital celebrating the winners of the Young Musicians of the Year (YMOY) Award. Both the foundation and the YMOY award were created in 2012 by former students to honour the concert pianist and pedagogue, as well as
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Yo-Yo Ma remains quite easily one of the top five string players in the world and quite possibly the last surviving heavy-weight cellist of his generation. With the recent announcement of Lynn Harrell’s death, Yo-Yo Ma has no competitors alive. Put quite plainly he is the
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Given the universal appeal the guitar holds, it is hardly surprising that it has so many avatars, with a vast range of amplitude and repertoire to match. Having gained the status of symbol (of youth, freedom, la dolce vita, what have you..), as much as instrument, the quietest member of
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Parma in northern Italy nestled in the region of Emilia-Romagna is a well kept secret among Italians. Famous for its architecture, art, music, ham, cheese and surrounding countryside it is also home to one of the oldest universities in the world. What is less known is that every year
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DAY ONE The Volksoper at Währinger Straße is Vienna’s main stage for operetta musicals and ballet. Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán wrote their works brimming with world famous melodies for this theatre. On 17th September I saw the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd - six Tony Awards winner in
Reviews
DAY ONE Wednesday 19th September was a red letter day. I turned up well in time to take my seat in the orchestra stalls not knowing what to expect. At 8 o’clock sharp two men in full evening dress strode on to the stage and launched straight away into