18th century
The Beaux' Stratagem, National TheatreWednesday, 27 May 2015
Between Light Shining in Buckinghamshire and Everyman it was beginning to look like we were never going to get a proper, uncomplicated laugh in Rufus Norris’s National Theatre. Thank goodness for Restoration comedy, stepping into the breach as... Read more... |
Leçons de Ténèbres, Devine, St John's Smith SquareTuesday, 19 May 2015
This penultimate night of the London (formally Lufthansa) Festival of Baroque Music brought beautiful, intelligent, superbly musical singing from two sopranos Julia Doyle and Grace Davidson, who sang early 18th century works by François Couperin:... Read more... |
10 Questions for Actress Pippa Bennett-WarnerMonday, 18 May 2015
At just 26, Pippa Bennett-Warner has already achieved many actors’ goals, from treading the boards at the National and having a part written specially for her to sharing scenes with luminaries like Derek Jacobi and Eddie Redmayne. She debuted aged... Read more... |
Being Both, Coote, English Concert, Bicket, Brighton DomeSaturday, 16 May 2015
Over the past decade Alice Coote has emerged as a singer of rare and exquisite vocal quality. Even when the direction of a project is questioned, there has generally been consensus that she generally sounds gorgeous. The concept of Being Both, a... Read more... |
Tawadros, AAM, Tognetti, Milton CourtFriday, 15 May 2015
Fusion between Christian Venice and the Ottoman east started up at least as early as the 15th century, accompanied by a superb portrait of Sultan Mehmet II attributed to Gentile Bellini (pictured below). So what Egyptian-born oud (read oriental lute... Read more... |
Handel Singing Competition Final, St George's Hanover SquareTuesday, 21 April 2015
You only have to look down the list of recent winners of the Handel Singing Competition – Andrew Kennedy, Elizabeth Atherton, Ruby Hughes, Sophie Junker – to see its pedigree, its knack for spotting serious talent. Yet you also only have to look... Read more... |
The School for Scandal, Tobacco Factory, BristolThursday, 16 April 2015
Andrew Hilton’s immensely enjoyable Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory production of the Sheridan classic opens with a display of hilarious brio from Byron Mondahl, who steps into the intimate arena of this South Bristol venue, only half in... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Thuringia: Easter with BachSunday, 12 April 2015
Sing, dance, breathe: those are the three imperatives for successful Bach performance, and three superlative interpretations at the Thuringia Bach Festival glorified them in excelsis. Frankly, I would have thrilled even to a merely good performance... Read more... |
Giove in Argo, Britten Theatre, Royal College of MusicWednesday, 25 March 2015
If you’re looking for rare festival Handel, better a pasticcio – take that as shorthand for a cut-and-paste job mostly from previous hits – than one of those original operas in which the composer only goes through the motions (and I’ve heard a few... Read more... |
Joshua Reynolds, Wallace CollectionSaturday, 21 March 2015
The grand but domestic setting of Hertford House, home of the Wallace Collection, makes a fitting backdrop to an exhibition of paintings by Joshua Reynolds. The Marquesses of Hertford acquired some 25 paintings by Reynolds in the artist's lifetime,... Read more... |
Written By Mrs Bach, BBC FourSaturday, 21 March 2015
The Australian musician and musicologist Martin Jarvis, connected with Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory, has been obsessed for the past 25 years with proving that Anna Magdalena Wilcke, Johann Sebastian Bach’s second wife, was not... Read more... |
The Wild Man of the West Indies, ETO, Hackney EmpireFriday, 13 March 2015
“Do you think they’ve got enough plot to get us through to the end?” I overheard a lady anxiously asking her husband during the interval. It was a fair question. Donizetti’s The Wild Man of the West Indies was written within a year of L’elisir d’... Read more... |
