The 2024 London Piano Festival opened with fanfare at King’s Place, London, as renowned pianists, Charles Owen, Katya Apekisheva and Lara Melda, performed Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the Carducci String Quartet* Apekisheva brought her intense concentration and intelligence to Mozart’s exquisite Concerto in A, K414, the Andante movement being particularly delicious! Charles Owen’s beaming countenance…
Cross bow: Sieben, ‘Brand New Dark Age’ – and more…
Matt Howden has now been writing, performing and recording under his ‘Sieben’ alias for nearly a quarter-century, and the fundamental recipe remains constant. Voice, violin and electronics. However, this apparently limited set-up has never been a constraint. On the contrary, it’s acted as a springboard for a relentlessly restless artist, allergic to repeating himself, hurtling…
English Touring Opera kick starts its 2024 Autumn Season with an entrancing production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Snowmaiden’
Last week English Touring Opera opened their Autumn touring season with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Snowmaiden. The Snowmaiden premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, in 1882 and the Hackney Empire’s plush red stage curtain certainly brought a flavour of Imperial Russia to this evening’s performance.. The stage was lit with a circle of light – glass panels encased wintry…
ENO staging of ‘Suor Angelica’ recalls a dark time in Ireland’s female history
Suor Angelica is a rarely performed, one-act opera by Puccini. When played at all, it is often sandwiched together between two other short operas, Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi which probably explains why the work has been overlooked (Gianni Schicchi has tended to be favoured over the other two). Director of ENO, Annalise Miskimmon, was…
Explore Ambient Soundscapes in Resonating Earth
Resonating Earth, the new album from from American pianist Carolyn Enger, was created in response to the climate crisis and emerged from her deep connection to nature and her dedication to environmental activism. Enger lives in a wooden house outside Manhattan, a building which creates a wonderful chamber in which the sound of her seven-foot…
Naresh Sohal’s Complete Piano Music: A Fusion of Eastern Mysticism and Western Techniques
British-based composer Naresh Sohal was born on 18 September 1939 in Punjab in pre-Partition India, and was the first person of Indian origin to make his mark as a composer of western classical music. His family had no musical pedigree, nor any connection with western classical music; his musical tastes were formed by listening to…
Charted territory: an African art music update
Rebeca Omordia is a pioneering champion of African art music – that is, works by African composers that blend the influence of both their own musical roots with their experience and knowledge of the Western classical ‘canon’. Back in spring 2022, I wrote about Omordia’s CD ‘African Pianism’ (SOMM Recordings), a stunning collection of solo…
‘Now You See Us’ at Tate Britain Women artists 1520-1920
Tate Britain honours all things female in painting and photography from the 16th century to the earlier part of the 20th century. In this exhibition, expect to uncover women artists you wouldn’t have heard of, and also to revisit works by Angelica Kaufman, Artemisia Gentileschi and photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron. At the show, things take off in…
Nature and Mysticism, Sibelius and Holst at the proms
This week the BBC Proms offered up an evening of music by Jean Sibelius, Gustav Holst and contemporary woman composer, Lara Poe, all three works sharing in the themes of nature and mysticism. Sakari Oramo, a regular guest composer of the proms, had the job of leading the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and…
“Everything is connected” – an interview with pianist Annie Yim
Annie Yim is a Hong Kong-born Canadian concert pianist, creative collaborator, and founder of MusicArt [LINK http://annieyim.com/musicart/%5D based in London. We caught up with her to talk about her latest project and recent collaborations. Your current project is ‘The Well Gardened Mind Music Project’. Can you tell us more about the evolution of this project…
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