Author Archives: John

Director, David McVicar; Designer, Tanya Mccallin; Lighting Designer, Paule Constable; Figaro, Luca Micheletti; Susanna, Siobhan Stagg (replacing Ying Fang); Count Almaviva, Huw Montague Rendall; Countess Almaviva, Maria Bengtsson; Cherubino, Ginger Costa-Jackson; Bartolo, Peter Kálmán; Marcellina, Rebecca Evans; Don Basilio, Adrian Thompson; Antonio, Jeremy White; Don Curzio, Alasdair Elliott; Barbarina, Isabela Díaz. Conductor, Julia Jones IContinue reading “Mozart, Marriage of Figaro: Live screening from ROHCG at Sheffield Odeon. 10/9/24”

Mahler, Symphony No. 6 in A minor. Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle, conductor A bit like my wish to step away from live Bruckner performances for a while, I resolved on the same course of action with Mahler after the Leipzig Mahler Festival last year, which ended, as it happens, with a veryContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 62: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Rattle, RAH, 6/9/24”

Thomas Adès, Aquifer; Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, ‘Romantic’. Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle, conductor After 4 days I am still walking around with themes from Bruckner 5 in my ears after the magnificent Berlin performance, so it is a bit of an adjustment to suddenly move to Bruckner 4.Continue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 61: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rattle, RAH, – 5/9/24”

Bruckner, Motets: Os justi; Locus iste; Christus factus est; Symphony No. 5 in B flat major. BBC Singers, Owain Park, conductor. Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko, conductor  After the magnificent Bruckner 5 from Thielemann and the Berlin Staatskapelle in Berlin last November, I wondered how I would feel about a very different sort of conductor interpretingContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 56: Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko. RAH, 1/9/24”

Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor; Smetana, Má vlast. Víkingur Ólafsson, piano;  Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko, conductor  I have never heard Víkingur Ólafsson play anything other than Bach and Mozart live, so I was looking forward to hearing what he did with the Schumann concerto. And I have never heard the whole of Ma VlastContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 55: Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko. RAH, 31/8/24”

Vítězslava Kaprálová, Military Sinfonietta; Dvořák, Piano Concerto in G minor; Janáček Glagolitic Mass. Mao Fujita, piano; Corinne Winters, soprano; Bella Adamova, mezzo-soprano; David Butt Philip, tenor; Brindley Sherratt, bass – replaced b Pavel Švingr; Christian Schmitt, organ; The City of Prague Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša, conductor I made a fairly late decision toContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 50 – Czech Philharmonic, Hrusa. RAH, 28/8/24”

Bach, Mompou and Liszt. I went to a lunchtime concert today before the evening concert. The brief programme note indicated that Cristo Harijan is a “22 year old pianist who has just concluded his final year as an undergraduate studying with Murray Mclachlan at the Royal Northern College of Music, Cristo graduated with a first,Continue reading “St James, Piccadilly: Cristo Harijan, piano – 28/8/24 “

Dvořák, Cello Concerto in B minor; Josef Suk, SymphonyNo. 2, ‘Asrael’. Anastasia Kobekina, cello; Czech Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša,conductor Doomsters this year were saying that the Proms would last 6weeks only and that the big foreign orchestras were no longer going to beaffordable for the Proms. But, lo and behold, we have three of the topContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 49 – Czech Philharmonic, Hrusa. RAH, 27/8/24”

 Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D major op. 35; Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 in D minor op. 47. Lisa Batiashvili Violin; Oslo Philharmonic; Klaus Mäkelä Conductor …..So, the last concert of my 10 day trip to Bayreuth and Salzburg……….And here was Klaus with his ‘old’ orchestra, from the time when he only had one to dealContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Oslo Philharmonic, Makela – Felsenreitschule; 21/8/24”

Timur Zangiev Conductor; Peter Sellars, Director; George Tsypin, Sets; Camille Assaf, Costumes; James F. Ingalls Lighting. Peixin Chen, The General; Asmik Grigorian, Polina; Sean Panikkar, Alexey Ivanovich; Violeta Urmana, the ‘Babulenka’ ; Juan Francisco Gatell, The Marquis ; Michael Arivony, Mr Astley; Nicole Chirka, Blanche; Zhengyi Bai, Prince Nilsky; Ilia Kazakov, Baron Wurmerhelm. Concert AssociationContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Prokofiev: The Gambler – Felsenreitschule; 20/8/24”