by Guy Rickards | Dec 5, 2021 | Awards, Music
Much delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic and resulting restrictions, the final one of the Music Section’s 2020 Awards for Young Talent was presented to violist Timothy Ridout onstage at The Wigmore Hall at a lunchtime concert on Saturday, November 27th 2021. The...
by Guy Rickards | Dec 5, 2021 | Awards, Music
The presentation of the Music Section’s Awards for 2020 (based on activity carried out during the previous year) has been much disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Section prefers to present the Awards wherever possible at concerts featuring the artists...
by Music Editor | Nov 27, 2021 | Music
By Robert Thicknesse How do you turn a Hammer horror into a tragedy? It confronts every director of Verdi’s take on Shakespeare. Part of it is that the mid-19th century had such different ideas of drama (and of Shakespeare) from us, another that Verdi (and his...
by Lucien Jenkins | Nov 23, 2021 | Music
The question of when and where to set Wagner’s Ring is an entirely open one, since like Arthur and Lear, it is everywhere and nowhere. Richard Jones (director) and Stewart Laing (set and costume designer) answer this by locating Act 1 of Valkyrie in a Wickes shed, Act...
by Rick Jones | Oct 26, 2021 | Awards, Books, Dance, Drama, Film, Music, Uncategorized, Visual Arts
At the National Liberal Club last week, the Critics’ Circle presented the opera singer Dame Janet Baker with the Rosebowl Award for “Distinguished Service to Art”. The vote for this most endearing of prime donne had been cast in 2019 but certain world...
by Lucien Jenkins | Oct 8, 2021 | Music
The Royal Opera’s new Rigoletto has the casting is just right. Lisette Oropesa’s Gilda (who shares the role with Rosa Feola) manages the difficult balance between the coloratura writing of the part and the youthful innocence of the role. After all, she mustn’t be...
