Music for a Great City: The Outcry Ensemble at Smith Square – Review
Even though I have been to plenty of superb performances this year there are a few good ‘uns that I’ve missed. Work, the Olympics and a family holiday have scuppered John Wilson at the...
The Tender Land at Piccolo Regio Puccini, Torino – Review
Like most people I have plenty of Bucket List entries that I want to tick off in my life. Many of these are of course associated with the music of Aaron Copland and one...
Bristolian Spring – Part 2: My roundup of the latest concerts in Bristol
I love my city – Bristol. For sure, there are things that annoy me – the lack of a mass transit system – why? And certain derelict buildings that have stood like eyesores for...
Bristolian Spring – Part 1: My roundup of the latest concerts in Bristol
At heart I’m a city boy. Even though my job involves working with farmers and I love country walks and nature spotting, I feel the need to be close to where culture is. I...
Frankenstein – Mark Bruce Company’s unmissable new dance double bill
I really like contemporary dance and I love modern classical music. It’s not often I see them combined as it’s hard to keep one’s eyes peeled on all the listings and besides many events...
Total Immersion: Missy Mazzoli at the Barbican
Over the last few days I have had this idea in my head. If there was a new Mount Rushmore exclusively set aside for contemporary American composers, which four heads would be carved in...
Sound World @ The Crypt – 14 Jan: Concert review
I’ve been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks so this is a rather belated review of the second Sound World concert in the Crypt at the Mount Without (read my review of...
A great weekend in Bristol culminating in the World Premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Odyssey – Review
Bristol seemed to be like the centre of the classical musical world these last few days! We’ve had several features on BBC Radio 3 in the prominent Breakfast and In Tune slots and the...
Love, existence and death – Trio Chagall paint pictures of Vitebsk – Review
At the end of yesterday’s concert at Wigmore Hall pianist Lorenzo Nguyen said that as the concert had been “very tough” that their encore piece would be a movement from Haydn trio. This did...
Binary Stars – Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein
Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein were two titans of 20th Century Music. In many ways they were inseparable, a 50-year friendship where encouragement and patronage passed in both directions. More than this, like binary...
