Coventry Cathedral – photo from Association of British Cathedrals
The first time I heard Britten’s War Requiem in concert (at Symphony Hall in Birmingham), I went home and was violently ill. Ok, it may have been food poisoning, but I prefer to think I was so struck by the power of the music that I had a strong physical reaction to the emotions it drew out of me. That’s the angle I’d go for in my biography anyway. Continue reading
The problem with having a summer birthday means birthday-trips come at a time when lots of concert halls and opera houses are closed for the summer (except the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where top classes performances carry on through the summer. And let’s not forget the BBC Proms). We had this problem last year with a double-birthday trip to Vienna – early July seems to offer only naff Mozartian-costumed orchestras and morning organ recitals. Nein, danke. Continue reading
As a music student at the University of Birmingham, it was often mentioned that Edward Elgar was our very first Professor of Music. What is usually left out is that there weren’t actually any music students at the time, and Elgar’s only required duties were to give 6 public lectures a year for a salary of £400. Continue reading
I think it isn’t going too far to say that the Royal Opera House is one of my favourite places in the whole world (on a list that includes the British Museum, my parents’s settee, and my own bed). I have fallen in love here, cried here, discovered new favourites, and generally been emotionally overwhelmed by some of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen. Continue reading
I travelled to Japan a few years ago, and for various reasons it was an incredibly important trip to me. I got to see some amazing sights, meet some wonderful people and tasted some delicious food. There were also lots of new experiences – including, but not limited to, robot restaurants, bullet trains, Harajuku shopping, and naked public bathing (which I WILL NOT be blogging about) – including a fantastic early-morning Buddhist ceremony at Zenkō-ji temple in Nagano. Continue reading
I’m playing in Mahler 9 in a concert soon, and am fortunately sitting next to a fellow Mahler nut (the rest of our section have yet to be converted, and I’m guessing the difficulty of playing the music won’t do much to help the cause). We’ve been chatting about our love for Mahler in rehearsals, and he’s the first person I’ve met who was as excited about seeing Mahler’s hat as I was! Continue reading
I like this description of Maurice Ravel – “he’s a small composer, but not a minor one.” In the past I’d worked on a Ravel project and was delighted to get to know more of his music Continue reading
