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…
Category: review
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…
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…
Moving images: ‘Yevonde – Life and Colour’, National Portrait Gallery, London
‘Madame Yevonde’ (born Yevonde Philone Cumbers) was a professional photographer whose versatile, pioneering career – lasting some 60 years until her death in 1975 at the age of 82 – reflected the relentless pace of change during the twentieth century. When visiting this major exhibition devoted to her work, it feels like walking through several…
András Keller, conductor of Concerto Budapest, in conversation with ArtMuseLondon
Karine Hetherington of ArtMuseLondon caught up with busy conductor András Keller, ahead of his 6-concert UK and Ireland tour with the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra. András – you have forged a brilliant career in music, first as a solo violinist, a concertmaster and chamber musician – and you are now touring the UK with the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra…
Forward thinking: ‘Science Fiction’, Science Museum, London
With a lack of planning that would probably rule me out of any responsible position in the building of a future society, I have only just made it to this captivating exhibition – which has a single week left to run. Worth catching if you’re in the area, but as ever, I’ve tried to give…
La Bohème Italian Style at Opera Holland Park
Giacomo Puccini’s Bohème was Opera Holland Park’s popular offering this week. Natasha Metherell, Director of this production, forewent the traditional Parisian setting and opted for an Italian film set of the 1950s. This was a nod to Puccini’s homeland and a gamble which didn’t quite pay off. The stage filled with megaphones, spotlights, film cameras and…
Unbound: Mahan Esfahani & Carolyn Sampson on disc and in recital
For any listener, there’s a special kind of excitement reserved for when favourite artists – those you’ve been following separately for some time, collected their records and so forth – suddenly collaborate. Examples that spring to my mind include ‘The Marble Downs’, a masterpiece made by one of the UK’s greatest (and much missed, certainly…
Bold testament: ‘Out of Her Mouth’, Dunedin Consort & soloists, Village Underground, London
A couple of watermelons still share the stage with the artists as they receive our applause. They are the lucky ones. Their fallen comrades gave their lives in mostly spectacular fashion, just one of the bravura surprises in this wildly inventive production. ‘Out of Her Mouth’ is a joint venture by Dunedin Consort, who supply…
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