Words by Jonathan Glen / Pics by Steve Thorne & external sources Performing: Mozart Piano Sonatas 5, 4 & 8 / Chopin Ballades 1, 2, 3 & 4 It can’t be easy walking out on stage as ‘one of the world’s greatest pianists’. Having the knowledge that if this is not the best performance the […]
Words by John Noblet Can you remember those World War II soldiers who, isolated from the rest of their army, hid on a deserted island and didn’t realise the war had ended, decades after everyone else had finished fighting? Sometimes music scenes work like that – the media declares something to be over, but a […]
Words by John Noblet / Pics from www.sleafordmods.com When the economic downturn started a few years ago, it bought out a naive hope in a certain class of music fan. It was thought that recession, coupled with the tightfisted spite of a Tory government, might bring angry music with a strong penchant for social comment back […]
Words by Jonathan Glen Performed by Gabriela Montero & the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Conducted by Michael Seal Tonight the Symphony Hall is witness to a duel between two great Russians. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is joined by Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriella Montero to take on Sergei Rachmaninov’s stirring 1901 Piano Concerto […]
Words by Althea Patterson / Production pics by Bill Cooper One asks the question, is opera is accessible to all? I’ve loved it since I heard Luciano Pavarotti sing during the 1990 World Cup – and chances are many will first experience opera through a crossing of mediums; absorbing ringtones or advertising, then wondering why […]
