It had been quite some time since I had last seen Manon Lescaut, Puccini’s early opera. Not since 2014 when leading man, Jonas Kaufmann, the Tom Jones of opera, topped the bill, playing an overly confident De Grieux at the Royal Opera House. Nevertheless I lapped up his ill-fated love affair with Latvian soprano,…
Category: review
Natalia Goncharova at Tate Modern
Natal’ya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov were the power couple of the Russian avant-garde. They first met at art school in Moscow in 1898, where they were talent-spotted by the theatrical impresario Sergei Diaghilev. The two gained further recognition by exhibiting with various short-lived groups: Knave of Diamonds (named by Larionov because of its vaguely…
Rowan Hudson – Passing Ships
Rowan Hudson delivers a project full of cool jazz harmonies, pictorial sounds tinted with Delius-esque passages (the pianist writes a blog dedicated to the English composer), and humorous textures.
The Art of Recycling: THE ROYAL ACADEMY SUMMER EXHIBITION 2019
The RA Summer Exhibition, with its whiff of the London season, the cocktail party and the 19th-century Paris salon, is always a bit of an oddity, and all the better for it, IMHO.
‘Mrs Pollock’ breaks free of her husband’s shadow in a vibrant burst of colour and energy
Lee Krasner: Living Colour so good you would not know it was done by a woman – Hans Hofman For too long the artist Lee Krasner (1908-1984) lived in the overbearing shadow of her alcoholic husband, Jackson Pollock, in both life and death. Yet when they met in 1941, she was already developing a significant…
Leonardo da Vinci. A Life in Notebooks
Study of Fetus in the Womb circa 1511 Part artist, part scientist, Da Vinci embodies the Renaissance man par excellence. Luckily for us, the workings of his inner mind in painting, sculpture, anatomy, military engineering and cartography have all been recorded in the notebooks he kept throughout his life. One of these notebooks made…
The Power of Music and Birdsong
Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge surrounded by fields around 1548 Man has always been enraptured by birdsong. The nightingale’s song is not only a thing of rare beauty but a complex affair. Naturalists have likened the nightingale’s musical talents to that of a jazz musician, who is able to improvise on several instruments at…
Bach Evolution at the Royal Albert Hall
Whether it is through a flawless performance, a modern reinterpretation or a violent destruction, Bach continues to fascinate musicians and listeners
Stepping inside Stanley Kubrick’s Mind
Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kubrick on the ‘Paths of Glory’ set. There are many talented people in this world, but there are few creatives who are really able to produce magic, whether we be talking literature, film, art or music. The ‘magic’ I am talking about is the tingling experience you get when presented with…
RISE: a sparkling debut disc from a vibrant young performer
I first encountered saxophonist Jess Gillam at a private party given by a friend of mine. Still just a young teenager, she burst on to the stage in a gold-sequinned mini dress and black DMs, and proceeded to play an unaccompanied, foot-tapping saxophone solo with all the energy, commitment and confidence of a seasoned professional…
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