by Music Editor | Feb 15, 2021 | Awards, Books, Dance, Drama, Film, Music, Uncategorized, Visual Arts
One of the greatest living stars of British classical music, the mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker CH DBE, was voted the winner of the 2019 Critics’ Circle Rosebowl by the 500 members of the Circle. Regrettably both the announcement and the award have been delayed...
by Guy Rickards | Dec 8, 2020 | Music, Uncategorized
Robert — ‘Bob’ — Layton, the celebrated musicologist, author and, for 31 years, a BBC Radio Producer, died on 9th November at the age of 90. He was a member of the Critics’ Circle from 1966. He contributed regularly to a wide variety of publications but as a critic...
by Rick Jones | Nov 26, 2020 | Music
For more than a hundred years, pianists have been doing battle in the seaside town of Hastings on the south coast of England. Originally, the competition featured local players in the context of a general music festival but eventually the keyboard section became...
by Music Editor | Oct 8, 2020 | Music
Melancholy never seems far away from any concert these days, and the final celebratory piece aside, the English Concert gave us a Purcell programme to milk it. St John’s, completely cleared of furniture, the orchestra luxuriously spaced in the wide-open nave, a very...
by Music Editor | Jun 16, 2020 | Awards, Music, Uncategorized
The Music Section of the Critics’ Circle is delighted to announce the winners of our Annual Awards for 2019. The Lifetime Achievement Award is a special category, rather than an annual award, and is given here by the music section to a conductor whose career has had a...
by Tom Sutcliffe | Feb 16, 2020 | Music
ENO no-no It is easy to see why Verdi was attracted to Schiller’s tragedy about the class system, Kabale und Liebe. A genius from the lower orders, Verdi believed in freedom and was classless. English-speaking critics patronise the Schiller play because of the poison...
