A concert in a carpark, orchestra and audience gathered on level 8 of a 1980s brutalist hulk of concrete in Peckham, south-west London. It all sounds rather J G Ballard-esque, and indeed the way in to the venue is a grubby, litter-strewn entrance beside the PeckhamPlex cinema. There’s a bouncer in attendance and some heavy-duty…
East meets West: Prom 41
‘Passages’ by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass Britten Sinfonia with Anoushka Shankar, sitar, Karen Kamensek, conductor, Alexa Mason, soprano Tuesday 15th August 2017 The Late Proms, introduced in 2012, offer a slightly different musical experience to the main concerts and often feature non-mainstream classical music, jazz or specially-themed concerts (such as the Ibiza Prom and…
Rowan Hudson Trio at The Bull’s Head
I admit it, I’m a jazz ingenue. I know very little about the genre and even less about how to write a convincing review of a jazz gig or album. People say the rubric of classical music is complex and inaccessible; for me, jazz is even more complicated – there are genres and sub-genres aplenty….
A visit to Turner’s house
Five minutes walk from St Margaret’s station on a quiet residential road of large late-Victorian villas stands Sandycombe Lodge, former home of one of Britain’s greatest painters, J M W Turner.
Matisse in the Studio
Strange things lurk in artists’ studios, amidst the creative clutter. The Expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka kept a life-size mannekin of his former lover Alma Mahler with him for company. Several big names have stored guns in their studios, for no particular reason; certainly not to shoot themselves with (suicides are rare among artists). The…
Trapped in a Smash at Wilton’s
There are some words that make a concert-goer’s heart sink. For me these include “experimental”, “fusion”, “cross-over”, “wunderkind” and – after last night’s concert at Wilton’s Music Hall – “virtuoso harmonica player”. It’s rare for me to feel trapped at a concert, fervently wishing for it to be over, but last night was such an…
Variations on a traditional programme – Inon Barnatan at Wigmore Hall
George Frideric Handel – Chaconne in G major HWV435 Johann Sebastian Bach – Partita No.4 in D major BWV828, II. Allemande Jean-Philippe Rameau – Premier livre de pieces de clavecin, IV. Courante in A minor François Couperin – Second livre de pieces de clavecin, Ordre 12 No. 8 L’Atalante Maurice Ravel – Le tombeau…
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2017
The RA Summer Exhibition has been part of my cultural landscape for years. As a teenager I used to go to the members Private View with my parents, enjoying an illicit glass of fruit-laden Pimms while perusing the weird and wonderful of the world’s most democratic art exhibition (yes, anyone can submit work for inclusion…
The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!
Grayson Perry at Serpentine Galleries (until 10 September 2017) Britain’s favourite transvestite potter and national treasure Grayson Perry RA once again casts his astute eye over contemporary society, its exigences and preoccupations, in a new summer show at the Serpentine Galleries in the heart of London’s Hyde Park. I am in the communication business and…
A Messiaen double bill at the Barbican
Messiaen L’Ascension Messiaen Turangalîla Symphony BBC Symphony Orchestra Sakari Oramo conductor Steven Osborne piano Cynthia Millar ondes martenot Wednesday 24th May 2017 The authors of ArtMuseLondon must confess to a certain fascination with the Ondes Martenot, that strange early electronic instrument which stars in Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony. We first encountered the instrument at an earlier…
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