Wagner and the Bayreuth Festival. Review by Graham Buchan. Wagner divides opinion. Even amongst opera lovers there are those who cannot abide his works, whilst others elevate him to almost God-like status.
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Rigoletto. Review by Julia Pascal. Concept is all. And director Jonathan Miller’s decision to set Verdi’s disturbing melodrama in 1950s New York Little Italy is genius.
Poetry review – THE POINT OF THE STICK: Thomas Ovans enjoys Neil Fulwood’s poetic sketches of famous conductors
Jazz Conversations. Review by Barbara Lewis. Choreographer Dollie Henry and jazz composer Paul Jenkins have for more than a quarter of a century led the Body of People Jazz Theatre Company (aka BOP) on the basis jazz is a life-affirming, always-contemporary, ever-adapting, all-inclusive, forgiving form.
Plantation A. Review by Barbara Lewis. In 1957 Alain Robbe-Grillet reinvented the novel with an almost abstract, almost plot-less narrative and a central character named only as A… Now composer Edward Jessen has reinvented opera with “an experimental sonic theatre work” and a lone soprano (A…) singing words whose meaning we can only guess at.
State Ballet of Georgia – Swan Lake. Review by Julia Pascal. How thrilling to see the state Baller of Georgia in London for the first time. The Company is lucky enough to have mega star Nina Ananiashvili as Artistic Director.
Swan Lake in the Round. Review by Julia Pascal. This is the most famous of classical ballets and it was conceived for the proscenium arch Italianate style theatre of Imperial Russia when it opened with Marius Petipa’s choreography to Peter Tchaikovsky’s composition at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in 1895.
Stephen Sondheim Society. Review by Barbara Lewis. The SSSSPOTY, as it is known in Sondheim circles, technically is a competition, but, like Bonnie Langford, compere of this year’s 16th edition, you may prefer to see it as a celebration.
Poetry review – MUSIC, AWAKE HER: Edmund Prestwich admires both musicality and mutually illuminating images in a new collection by Martha Kapos
Romeo and Juliet. Review by Julia Pascal. This production has not been seen in London since 2009. Consequently, most Londoners will know revivals of Kenneth MacMillan’s famous 1965 version which has regularly been performed by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.
Your Lie in April. Review by Barbara Lewis. In the fantasy world of “Your Lie in April”, based on a Japanese manga, adapted into a television series, a film, and now brought to London’s West End, even football is relegated to a poor second to musical prowess when it comes to winning teenage hearts.
THE GOBLIN BAND: Jenny Vuglar reviews a performance at Cecil Sharp House on 4 December 2024
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • bands, music, year 2024 • Tags: bands, Jenny Vuglar, music