‘7 Deaths of Maria Callas’ is described as an “opera project”, the brainchild of performance artist Marina Abramović. The timing is ideal – English National Opera (ENO) describes the piece as “celebratory”, as we approach the centenary of Callas’s birth on 2 December; while Abramović is currently the subject of a major retrospective at the…
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.
‘Letter(s) to Erik Satie’ – Pianist Bertrand Chamayou explores the Cage Satie Connection
In Letter(s) to Erik Satie, Bertrand Chamayou celebrates the works of Erik Satie (1866-1925) and John Cage (1912-1992). Satie and Cage might seem an unusual pairing, yet both were idiosyncratic composers, separated by time and geography. The cabarets of 19th century Paris were Satie’s training ground, whereas Cage a conceptual artist from California was blooming…
Astral peaks: Raf and O, ‘We are Stars’
This is the most exquisite album yet from Raf and O, who I believe belong to that select group of artists who create not only great music, but also a universe in which that music can live and breathe. Open and upfront about their key influences – chiefly David Bowie and Kate Bush, more of…
Quiet Rhythms Live at Spectrum NYC
Dynamically quiet yet profoundly expressive, this is mesmerising music that ebbs and flows
Rigour & Freedom: FANTASIA – Igor Levit, piano
FANTASIA Works by JS Bach, Berg, Busoni, Liszt, Schubert Igor Levit (piano) Sony Classical 19658811642 (2 discs) Igor Levit, dubbed by The New Yorker as a pianist “like no other”, doesn’t do things by halves. He has forged a reputation and loyal following around the world by performing and recording some of the most challenging…
Elizabeth Sombart on the “hope” in Mozart in conversation with ArtMuseLondon
ArtMuseLondon : Elizabeth, you have a double album out in which you play Mozart’s greatest piano concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Why have you chosen Mozart, and why these concertos? Elizabeth : Following the difficult times we have gone through, I feel that Mozart can bring us joy, hope, and some much needed magic to…
NO FEAR Igor Levit
A film by Regina Schilling The title of this fly-on-the-wall documentary about German-Russian pianist Igor Levit is taken from a comment on the Beethoven piano sonatas, music which has been more than a significant part of Levit’s life (he has recorded the complete piano sonatas for Sony Classical and performed several complete cycles of the…
ETO’s new touring opera season opens with ‘The Coronation of Poppea’ at the Hackney Empire
September 30th was an important date in the English Touring Opera diary, with its new production of Coronation of Poppea opening at the splendorous Hackney Empire. Monteverdi’s seventeenth century opera is considered by many to be a masterpiece. It is easy to see why it endures, as it contains a host of fascinating historic figures…
Sea change: ‘Peter Grimes’, English National Opera, London
I was already excited about this evening before a note had even been sung or played. The start of a new ENO season: a happy occasion in itself. But I was also new to this acclaimed David Alden production, which was last given in 2014, only a few months before I went to my very…
“micro-glimpses into countless worlds” – CASCADE Cordelia Williams, piano
This new release from pianist Cordelia Williams celebrates the notion that small is not only beautiful – but also witty, imaginative, colourful, varied, virtuosic and transcendent. The piano miniature, of which this disc is a selection of some of the best, is a genre that includes some of the most exquisite and inventive music in…
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