Opera does not do greatest hits albums, but if they did… Giuseppe Verdi meets Bob Marley in Opera Locos, a show that blends opera’s best-known and loved arias with a sprinkling of pop hits Let’s be honest: opera can be a bit of a hard sell. Perhaps not to those who know and love the […]
Death of Gesualdo – St Martin in the Fields
Dark Harmonies from The Gesualdo Six, A Theatrical Concert for the 300th Anniversary of St Martin in the Fields In his introduction to Death of Gesualdo, Bill Barclay writes: “Carlo Gesualdo wrote some of the most darkly sublime music of the late Renaissance. He also savagely murdered his wife and her lover in their bed. […]
The Messiah – St Martin in the Fields – The Sixteen
An intimate and deeply expressive performance of Handel’s Messiah from The Sixteen Of course, everyone knows the Hallelujah Chorus. At last night’s performance of The Messiah by The Sixteen, the audience dutifully, if hesitantly, stood at the appropriate point. Legend has it that the tradition began at the first London performance of the Messiah in […]
Emmet Cohen Trio at Wigmore Hall
Complex musical talents shine in London pit stop A month before his one-off Wigmore Hall appearance, Emmet Cohen reached a career bookend. The eminent jazz pianist retired his acclaimed YouTube series, Live From Emmet’s Place, after five years of broadcasting. Now, Cohen tours with two of the series’ finest players – veteran drummer Joe Farnsworth and bass prodigy […]
Preview: ‘Ocean Child’ at the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith this Saturday and Sunday
For two performances only, a stirring fusion of Irish music, memory & myth narrated by Stephen Rea This weekend, I am greatly looking forward to seeing the London premiere of Ocean Child at the Irish Cultural Centre (ICC) in Hammersmith. It’s a relatively new concert by Neil Martin, one of Ireland’s leading contemporary composers, performed by a collection of […]
London’s Hayward Gallery Celebrates Gilbert & George
21st Century Pictures Legions of fans of the artists Gilbert & George will be making their way to a new exhibition, Gilbert & George 21st Century Pictures, which has just opened at Hayward Gallery. If anyone unfamiliar with the renowned Gilbert & George (they describe themselves as “two people but one artist”) were to meet […]
Golda Schultz Sings Gershwin and Bernstein at the Proms
While Golda Schultz was the undisputed focus of last night’s BBC Prom, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with Robin Ticciati on the podium (fresh from Glyndebourne), made its presence strongly felt. The evening opened with the Proms premiere of Franz Schreker’s Chamber Symphony and concluded with Stravinsky’s dazzling Firebird Suite, a showpiece that leaves no room for weakness in the orchestra.
Denmark Street Sessions
The Return of London’s Music Mile On Saturday, 6th September, London’s most famous hundred-yard stretch will come alive once more. Denmark Street, long mythologised as the beating heart of Britain’s music industry, is launching its first-ever Denmark Street Sessions: a free day-to-night celebration of live music, art, conversation and creativity. For those who know its […]
BBC Proms 2025: Anoushka Shankar – ‘Chapters’
A Rapturous Proms Return for Anoushka Shankar The Radio 3 digital promotional banner at the back of the Royal Albert Hall last night proclaimed ‘Music to Unwind Your Mind’. It was a fitting headline for the return to the BBC Proms of Anoushka Shankar, sitar virtuoso, composer, and multi-Grammy nominee, for her 5th Prom and […]
BBC Proms 2025: Beethoven and Bartók from Budapest
Iván Fischer and the band delivered a knock-out performance of these two classics that will stay in the collective memory of those of us lucky enough to be in the audience. The lady sitting next to me was celebrating her 95th birthday, and I asked her if she enjoyed herself. ‘It was amazing, ‘ she said, and she was right.