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…
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…
‘A Child in Striped Pyjamas’ – John Boyne’s masterpiece in a new opera by Noah Max
John Boyne’s masterpiece The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas still features regularly on international bestseller lists nearly two decades after its publication. Boyne’s story is a symbolic exploration of why the Holocaust is so traumatic: it demonstrates the relentlessly organised barbarity of which humanity is capable. The book has been adapted for cinema, theatre and…
Sparkling Beethoven from Daniel Tong
Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Op. 10 Nos 1-3 Daniel Tong (fortepiano) Resonus RES10307 This sparkling new release from Daniel Tong opens with an explosive ‘Mannheim rocket’, the dramatic first sentence of the Piano Sonata in C minor, Op 10, No. 1, which sets the tone for an uplifting and very enjoyable listening experience. Daniel Tong has…
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…
Noisenight 12 at Signature Brew, Haggerston
Guest review by David Lake If you haven’t come across the ‘noisenights,’ you really should. Two enterprising musicians, Jack Crozier and Jack Bazalgette started these classical/not-classical nights around London during the pandemic and this is the first I’ve had the chance to attend. The idea is simple enough: get top-notch classical musicians playing in the…
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…
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