Talk of viable jobs in the mainstream media today triggered my inner lefty. Or was it my inner liberal? I’m still not clear whether advocating the arts makes me a lefty or a liberal. Either way, the word was a trigger word deliberately placed in press releases, speeches and ‘reports’ intended to enflame and enrage.…
I’ve been listening to Igor Levit’s Gramophone category winning album of Beethoven piano sonatas A LOT this week. Hitherto Beethoven’s creations for the keyboard have presented themselves as a marathon to get through. This week they’ve made sense of the world. They’ve also been things I’ve wanted to return to like a snack in the…
News started dribbling in at first and it was tantalising. Then there was a steady flow of news about concerts and recordings, and then things started to feel like a bit more normal. Every press release after that the presented itself like a mini launch event for the BBC Proms. Like this: DJ Nico Bentley…
The Philharnonia premiered a concert this evening via their YouTube and Facebook channels, with a simulstream via that other radio station dedicated to classical music, Classic FM. Some thoughts bubbled up to the surface whilst I was chopping veg for the casserole tonight. First, the slew of YouTube premieres from various bands are a lovely…
October gigs at St John’s Smith Square
The first of LMP’s Classical Club concerts recorded in Upper Norwood.
Congratulations to Aurora Orchestra’s principal flute and Creative Director Jane Mitchell who was last night awarded with the Royal Philharmonic Society and Association of British Orchestras Salomon Prize, celebrating an orchestral musicians achievements as nominated by the orchestra they work for. One of those awards you see announced you end up thinking to yourself, “Well,…
The opening chords of Beethoven’s 7th symphony played by the Aurora Orchestra in Kings Cross pinned me to the glass doors of nearby Waitrose in Handyside Canopy. Tears flowed. This was the first actual live orchestral music I’d heard in person in six months. A supercharged affair. There’s a vague sense that this might be…
These weekly posts help me. They’re probably more helpful to me than they are interesting to read. I have no real idea whether that’s true or whether it’s just a reflection of my own negative thinking. This said, a weekly (or fortnightly) as has been the case in recent weeks does help order my thoughts…
Always nice to start the day with an invigorating press release. This from the London Philharmonic Orchestra announcing their concert schedule for the rest of the year offers a little bit of hope and possibly even excitement. All thirteen concerts will be streamed via Marquee.TV which if you’ve got one of a range of Connected…