Category: Review
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Review – Santiago Sanchez and Victoria Guerroro at Cheltenham Festival
Poise, elegance, and youthful charm: tenor Santiago Sanchez and pianist Victoria Guerrero shine in their Cheltenham Music Festival debut — Sanchez with tender clarity, Guerrero with delicious precision.
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Review – Guitarist Alexandra Whittingham at Cheltenham Festival
Warmth, wit, and astonishing control from a guitarist who makes silence sing.
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Review – Giorgi Gigashvili at Cheltenham Festival
Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili, who ends his time on the BBC’s New Generation Artists scheme this year, is an exciting performer with flair whose musicianship shines brightest in moments of intimacy and reflection.
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Review – Anibal Vidal’s Theatre of Origins premiered at Spitalfields Festival
Vocalists strike, blow, and sing their way through a vivid retelling of Creation in Aníbal Vidal’s Theatre of Origins, premiered at Spitalfields Festival.
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Review – BBC Symphony at Aldeburgh Festival 2025
Two standout evenings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the 2025 Aldeburgh Festival, featuring new works by Kidane, Grimes, and Elias alongside Strauss, Britten and Sibelius. Virtuosity, ambition, and moments of startling clarity across the weekend — with Leila Josefowicz and Allan Clayton especially compelling.
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Review – Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra perform Kidane, Turnage and Nielsen at Aldeburgh Festival
Turnage, Nielsen, and Kidane: bold sounds, sharp messages, and orchestral firepower
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Review – Dunedin Consort’s Markus Passion at Aldeburgh Festival 2025
Bach’s Markus-Passion from Dunedin Consort: phenomenal, enthralling, and profound
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Review – Gavin Higgins’ Speak of the North premieres at the Aldeburgh Festival 2025
Speak of the North is evocative, immediate, and unmistakably Higgins Full transparency: I’m a big fan of Gavin Higgins’ work. Colourful, energetic, and thoughtful, Higgins has a knack for handling material that meets the need, meets his need, and meets the needs of the audience. In Speak of the North, he’s built on the strengths…
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Review – Knussen Chamber Orchestra play Helen Grime’s Folk and Britten Nocturne and Suite on English Folk Tunes
This was the first programme with music by Britten in this year’s Aldeburgh Festival, performed by the Knussen Chamber Orchestra made up of musicians from the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music with guest section leaders including Laura van der Heijde and Scott Dickinson. The premiere of Helen Grime’s song cycle Folk…
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Review – Fu & Betts-Dean: Solitude with Schubert
Pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu and mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean’s Solitude with Schubert was a powerful meditation that bound audience and performer close in the shared acknowledgement of grief, articulated by the musical language of Schubert’s bittersweet writing. Originating as a response to restrictions of lockdown, Fu’s exploration of Schubert was at first a creative response to…