ArtMuseLondon’s Karine Hetherington catches up with award-winning composer Dani Howard Growing up in Hong Kong you played piano and the drums. In your large-scale compositions, the percussion certainly stands out. Does the sense of rhythm and energy in your orchestral works come from your early days drumming? Absolutely – I definitely think that this early…
Author: ArtMuseLondon
ArtMuseLondon is a site for reviews of art exhibitions and music in London, and general cultural musings, written by people with a keen interest and an honest, accessible approach.
‘Traces’ at the Lighthouse, Poole
Another gem of an exhibition in Dorset, this time at the Lighthouse arts centre in Poole. I first discovered David R Abram‘s extraordinary aerial photographs of ancient sites in Britain through Twitter, serendipitously just before Christmas 2022 when I was trying to find a suitable gift for my husband. David’s book, An Aerial Atlas of…
Into the abyss: ‘The Zone of Interest’
I’m writing this piece, about the film ‘The Zone of Interest’, on the evening of Monday 11 March, 2024. I sketched a few rough notes out last night, then went to bed – waking this morning, of course, to news of the Oscar winners. I like to think this movie received the two awards that…
English Touring Opera stages Stravinsky’s rare Rake’s Progress at the Hackney Empire
As part of their 2024 Spring opera season, English Touring Opera staged The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky at the Hackney Empire. Conceived later on in Stravinsky’s life, when he was living in America, The Rake’s Progress was his one and only full-length opera. Drawing inspiration from a William Hogarth exhibition he had visited in Chicago, he got writing…
Artists in their own right
WOMEN AND THE PIANO: A History in 50 Lives by Susan Tomes Following on from her splendid ‘The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces’, celebrated pianist and writer Susan Tomes now turns her attention to that oft-neglected corner of classical music history – women pianists. Focussing on 50 women pianists – some well-known (Louise Farrenc,…
Spiritual awakening: Leon Bosch & Rebeca Omordia in concert and on disc
The African Concert Series was originally founded and curated by pianist Rebeca Omordia to shine a spotlight on African art music: the diverse work of African composers who, as the series website explains, create “a bridge between Western classical music and African traditional music”. Launched in 2019, the series has had a torrid infancy. After…
La Muse Oubliée II – Antonio Oyazarbal, piano
Music by women composers is now almost ubiquitous in concert programmes and recordings, and the contribution of female composers to classical music’s canon is finally being properly recognised, though not without significant effort on the part of advocates, such as Spanish pianist Antonio Oyazarbal, and the work of DONNE: Women in Music, for which he…
Board senseless
For any ArtMuseLondon readers not following the story in the media (social or otherwise), it’s important that we post about latest developments at English National Opera (ENO). Anyone familiar with my articles will know the extent of my admiration for this ensemble, both Chorus and Orchestra. They have continued to give powerful, committed performances across…
English National Opera brings comedy to the fore with The Barber of Seville
Rossini’s Barber of Seville doesn’t often get the attention it deserves. Perhaps because it has often been unfavourably compared to Mozart’s weightier opera, Marriage of Figaro. The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro started life as plays by eighteenth century playwright, Pierre Beaumarchais. Sharing the same main characters, the operas are often confused….
Picture This : ‘It all started with the Fauves’ Ceramicist Suzanne Katkhuda.
If I ask myself the question “what is success to me in terms of my Art” I find it difficult to explain. I suppose I have always been artistic, but I had a strong urge to study ceramics when I had my two children and attended a pottery evening class in London once a week….
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