Reviews
Georges Bizet’s most famous work is the opera Carmen a contemporary tale of French verismo replete with on-stage cigarette- girls, Spanish dances, bull fights and on-stage stabbing. Its popularity has far out stripped that of its ten year’s previous story set in ancient times on the
Reviews
A magnificent show of Tchaikovsky’s dramatic tragedy was performed for the sixth time on 25th August to an appreciative audience. The opera by Tchaikovsky has a libretto by his brother Modest based on a novel by Alexander Puchkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky
Reviews
Last night I attended the first performance of my week in Salzburg during the conclusion of the Summer Festival. It was the sixth performance of Mozart’s last opera the Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). Billed initially by Mozart as a “German opera” it was also described as “grand opera”. Its
Reviews
I made it my business to explore the music of my contemporary George Benjamin in recent months, and was wondrously struck by the wealth and richness of his creative output, most especially in the outpouring of recent works. He is without question one of the most successful and accomplished composer
Reviews
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Robin Ticciati Johannes Brahms: Symphonies 1-4 18 and 19 August 2018 Usher Hall, Edinburgh Edinburgh International Festival Listening to Brahms’ complete symphony cycle is a tremendous emotional journey, and there could have been nobody better than Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh
Reviews
London Symphony Orchestra/Simon Rattle Leonard Bernstein: Symphony No. 2 ‘The Age of Anxiety’ Antonin Dvořák: Slavonic Dances op. 72 Leoš Janáček: Sinfonietta Krystian Zimerman, Piano 10 August 2018 Usher Hall, Edinburgh Edinburgh International Festival When I first heard three years ago that Simon Rattle was to take over the
Reviews
Those of us present at Mumbai’s century-old Opera House between 1-3 August were lucky enough to be treated to a really delightful evening. The opera house, built in the early 20th century in Indo-European Neo-Baroque architecture, lay unused for twenty three years from 1993 to
Reviews
On 24th and 25th April 2018, Tata Theatre audiences at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai had the distinct and rare opportunity of hearing not one nor two but all five piano concertos by Beethoven. We have to thank the NCPA who regularly partners with touring foreign orchestras
Reviews
It is not every day that we get to hear a piano giant who is a legend in his own lifetime. Born in 1960 to Irish parents in Belfast, Douglas studied piano at the Royal College of Music, London with a teacher whose lineage dates back to Liszt’s Weimar
Reviews
The Artie’s were back with a bang last month, arriving in India for four recitals in Mumbai and Pune as part of their 21st season of the bi-annual Festival. Most of the musicians have been here before including the outstanding Olivier Patey – principal clarinettist of the Royal Concertgebouw
Reviews
A 4 year old girl sits cross-legged on the floor with a photo album nestled in her lap. She pays no attention to the picture on the cover – a turquoise blue lake with snow white swans gracefully floating on it. She impatiently opens the album and winds up the
Reviews
Robin Ticciati/Scottish Chamber Orchestra J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Copland: Clarinet Concerto Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’ Maximilano Martín, clarinet 22 March 2018 Usher Hall, Edinburgh In what continues to be a sterling showcase of all of the talents in the Scottish