At the close of 2021, I wrote an article for this site pondering what 2022 might hold for culture as we emerged blinking into the light after two tough years of lockdowns and restrictions – and virtually no live music, opera, exhibitions, and more…. At the time, the UK was gripped by omicron, a new…
Category: review
Karine Hetherington’s music highlights in London and Paris and CD Choice for 2022.
In 2022 it was a joy to be back at the Wigmore Hall, King’s Place, English National Opera, Royal Opera and Opera Holland Park. In February, Royal Opera House offered up an imaginative staging of Handel’s oratorio Theodora. Theodora came with a great cast, featuring the fabulous Joyce DiDonato as Irene and new countertenor, Jakub…
Handel’s Messiah Comes to the West End With Too Many Trimmings
Handel’s Messiah can always be relied upon to project us into the Christmas holidays. It is astonishing to think that an age-old oratorio, written in 1741, is still being performed in churches and concert halls up and down the country and that its popularity shows no signs of waning. Over the years, I’ve attended many…
Elizabeth lines: ‘Gloriana’ at English National Opera
ENO’s one-off presentation of Britten’s coronation opera – originally programmed as a platinum jubilee-year special – was destined to become a powerfully significant evening. A double tribute: not only to the late monarch herself, but to the ENO company itself – still very much alive, defying its would-be executioners by putting its heart and soul…
Henry Moore’s Collection of Coalmining drawings go on show at St Alban’s Museum+Gallery
Image: Pit Boys at Pit Head, 1942, Wakefield Permanent Art Collection. Image Courtesy of The Hepworth Wakefield. When we think of Henry Moore we think of his sculptures of women, of his sleek abstract forms – also of his 1940 blitz drawings. What is less well known is that Moore was the son of a miner…
Motion captures: William Kentridge at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
As I write, there is just under a fortnight left – including two weekends – to see the Royal Academy’s retrospective of South African artist William Kentridge. I urge you to go if you can. Kentridge also directs and stages opera, and it’s thanks to English National Opera (‘ENO’) that I first encountered his work….
Paul Newman The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man. A Memoir
Paul Newman – The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is not a straight memoir as the title suggests, focusing principally on the man rather than the movie actor, whose star shone for many a decade over Hollywood till his death in 2008. Though his career was long, to some, his most enigmatic and most interesting…
Picture This : Mireille Vautier Sewing Stories
The line of a pen or pencil is like a thread that you pull which unravels. With this idea came the desire to embroider. Without really knowing how to embroider, I wanted to simply draw with thread. I’ve chosen to embroider this book and by doing so I preserve its identity. It’s almost as if…
Interview with French Conductor Christophe Rousset, musical director of period ensemble ‘Les Talens Lyriques’.
Armide opens tomorrow at L’Opéra Comique in Paris. The opera house has been restored to its former glory – how does it feel to be performing in such a space? It’s a place which holds many fond memories for me. I have worked here often and I had my first conducting experience at L’Opéra Comique…
An Enlightened Staging of Gluck’s ‘Armide’, a Tale of a Tough Woman Scorned at L’Opéra Comique Paris.
This weekend I travelled to Paris to the newly restored Opéra Comique where a new production of Gluck’s Armide has opened. You could be forgiven for not ever having heard of Armide. It was conceived in the 17th century with a score by Lully before Gluck came up with a new musical setting in the late 18th century. Taken…
ARTMUSELONDON 