The three composers played in this inspiring concert all had one thing in common: they all suffered tragically early deaths in their thirties. It felt right that the musicians were all youthful too. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective is comparatively young having been formed six years ago by Tom Poster and his wife Elena Urioste, who …
When one goes to see an opera one hardly expects such an extravagant mix of song, acting, dance, art and music. In every sense this work demands everything it can of all its participants. To begin at the beginning. The show begins with the orchestra, always visible at the back of the stage, delivering an …
Eight talented musicians gave us a varied programme starting with a brand new composition from Paul Saggers, moving on to Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and finishing with Mendelssohn’s String Octet. The world premiere of Saggers’ Dear Nan is a musical depiction of the composer’s beloved grandmother’s journey through the different stages of dementia. The piece begins …
Have you ever had the feeling that you’ve just been a witness to something rather special? On Saturday evening I was overwhelmed by that sensation. The programme featured a Premiere performance of a piece by Christopher Churcher as winner of the Musica Viva Composition Competition and the Southbank Sinfonia which is made up of thirty-five …
A joyful evening with a warm intimate atmosphere, despite the large audience, was created last night by the Welsh National Opera Orchestra on tour. Different members of the orchestra stepped forward and told us about each piece, often with entertaining anecdotes and jokes. This all added to the fun and sense of celebration, fed by …
The newly vamped Hall for Cornwall with its emphasis on wood and granite – so much wood that the whole venue has a woody scent – has a lovely interior but is arguably better for drama than for concerts. The acoustics in the stalls where I sat were wonderful, though apparently not quite so good …
Plymouth University are lucky indeed to have the very talented Robert Taub as the Music Director of the University’s Arts Institute. He is not just a wonderful, expressive pianist who enters so deeply into the spirit of the music that each piece he renders becomes very much his own, but also an extremely knowledgeable man …
The Hellys International Guitar Festival is a yearly event [pandemics excluded] which takes place in Helston, Cornwall. Hellys is the old Cornish name for Helston. It is now attracting more international guitarists than ever with a wider spectrum of styles. This year alone, guitarists from Germany, Belgium, Australia, the US, Brazil, Poland and Italy, as …
Last night in the Tolmen Centre, Constantine, we were given a treat. A quartet of musicians attending the International Musicians Seminar [IMS] at Prussia Cove in West Cornwall came and played at the Centre as part of a short tour of West Cornwall venues. Founded by the Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh, this is a big …
By any standards Janacek’s opera, Jenufa is an extraordinary piece of work, visceral and devastating but seeing and listening to it at this time, with Russia invading Ukraine, gave it an added poignancy. This was something Tomas Hanus, the Welsh National Opera’s Music Director, felt so strongly that he gave a short talk before the …