Birmingham
Kuusisto, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Birmingham Town Hall review - aural voyage through spaceWednesday, 05 June 2019
It’s quite a weighty concept, and one which could easily have buckled had both the music and its execution not been of the highest quality. Aurora Orchestra’s "Music of the Spheres" was a concert inspired by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras’s theory... Read more... |
CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - joy unboundedSaturday, 01 June 2019
You can tell a lot from the opening of Brahms’s Second Symphony. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra began it – and it’s not the first time they’ve done this in a big German symphony – as if in mid-... Read more... |
Benedetti, SCO, Birmingham Town Hall review - a powerful musical allianceTuesday, 28 May 2019
Playing with such energy, such synergy and such general camaraderie at the start of a tour must surely pave the way for even greater things to come. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Nicola Benedetti kicked off their European tour at Birmingham... Read more... |
CBSO, Volkov, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - Mahler goes BauhausFriday, 26 April 2019
Just over a decade ago it was predicted by those supposedly in the know that Ilan Volkov would succeed Sakari Oramo as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In the event, the gig went to Andris Nelsons, and it was probably for... Read more... |
St Matthew Passion, Ex Cathedra, Skidmore, Symphony Hall Birmingham - powerful, poignant BachSaturday, 20 April 2019
For the final instalment of their three Matthew Passions this Holy Week, Ex Cathedra gave a large scale performance of Bach’s oratorio in their home town on Birmingham, after dates with lesser forces in London and Bristol. With an augmented... Read more... |
Franco Fagioli, Il Pomo d’Oro, Birmingham Town Hall review - flair and flamboyanceMonday, 08 April 2019
For the final, and only UK, date of his Vinci Arias tour, virtuoso countertenor Franco Fagioli gave an animated and arresting recital of baroque arias at Birmingham Town Hall on Sunday afternoon with the Italian period instrument group Il pomo d’oro... Read more... |
Melzer, Albion Quartet, Birmingham Town Hall review - songs without wordsWednesday, 27 March 2019
This was a fascinating, unexpected prospect; instantly appealing to anyone who’s ever wondered about the string quartet’s niche in the 21st-century musical ecosystem. Two practically new song cycles for soprano and quartet – Kate Whitley’s Charlotte... Read more... |
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Birmingham Opera Company review - searing music-theatre for allThursday, 14 March 2019
A rum cove sidles up pimping with a tatty business card offering the services of Sonyetka. Not for me, I say, pointing out that in any case she’ll be dead three hours later. "That's more than I know," he says and wanders off to hook other possible... Read more... |
Ek, CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - epics of sea and landMonday, 18 February 2019
British concert audiences now know and love one great Lithuanian, among the most communicative and individual conductors in the world today (note I don't even need to prefix "conductors" with "women"). On Saturday night, Lithuania's Independence Day... Read more... |
Hadelich, CBSO, Măcelaru, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - industrial strength Vaughan WilliamsThursday, 31 January 2019
Well, I didn’t expect that – and judging from the way the rest of the audience reacted, nor did anyone else. After Cristian Măcelaru slammed the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra full speed into the final chord of Vaughan Williams’s Fourth... Read more... |
The Dandy Warhols, O2 Institute, Birmingham review - a silver jubilee jaunt with plenty of new tunesThursday, 31 January 2019
This week, the Dandy Warhols rocked up in Birmingham to begin the UK leg of their 25th anniversary tour with a gig in the Institute’s shabby but beautiful main hall, with its dusty neo-classical alabaster reliefs and almost comically antiquated... Read more... |
Hey Colossus, Centrala, Birmingham review - lighting the experimental 2018 Christmas candlesTuesday, 11 December 2018
Capsule is the Birmingham outfit that is good enough to bring the avant-garde, the lairy and the down-right odd to the city every summer for the splendid Supersonic Festival. However, that isn’t the extent of their activities, as there are also Home... Read more... |
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