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…
October gigs at St John’s Smith Square
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,…
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…
Sir Simon Rattle to DCMS’ Oliver Dowden: “We are poised and ready for collaboration, to urgently save our industry and its thousands and thousands of jobs.” I read Sir Simon Rattle’s Times interview first thing on Sunday morning in bed as soon as I woke up. Take it from me this is not the best…
I’m a little late to the Dowden interview in the Evening Standard. This late discovery doesn’t change the view expressed in the previous post. If anything the interview only backs it up. Julian Glover’s interview is a positive profile piece, seeking to project Dowden as the nice guy. The kind of Everyman the arts world…
If memory serves me correctly, 2020 is the first time the 72-year-old Aldeburgh Festival won’t be going ahead. No surprises why. COVID. This is notable because of the oft-told story of Benjamin Britten’s annual jamboree. Fire at Snape Maltings Concert Hall back in 1967 on the eve of that year’s festival might have threatened proceedings.…
I have line of sight of the BBC Proms season for 2020. And you know what, as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to be quite happy: archive broadcasts on radio, and BBC iPlayer, plus a cut-down selection of live performances towards the end of the season. The BBC Proms press release doesn’t reveal too…
I cannot remember the last time I’ve scrolled through my emails all bleary-eyed in bed only to discover in a split second, reading the header for one incoming press release, that I need to get up immediately, reach for the laptop and start typing furiously. The top-line messages make for stark and depressing reading. The…