Edinburgh
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Boy / Intruder|IntruzMonday, 08 August 2022
Boy, Summerhall ★★★★ Nature or nurture? It’s the perennial question behind so much in human development – and the central issue, too, behind Carly Wijs’s very moving Boy for Flemish theatre company De Roovers at Summerhall.Twins Brian and Bruce had... Read more... |
Ridout, SCO, Manze, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - sensual mystery and searing intensitySaturday, 07 May 2022
The programme for this concert had Andrew Manze’s fingerprints all over it. Of all the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s semi-regular guest conductors, he’s the one who most consistently delivers on the highest level. A thinker to his fingertips, he... Read more... |
RSNO, RCOS Students, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - a massive gesture of solidarityMonday, 02 May 2022
In my last review from Edinburgh, I remarked on the sheer size of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, with over 100 players on stage. Little did I know that two weeks later the Royal Scottish National Orchestra would swell its ranks with... Read more... |
Foals, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - a euphoric returnSaturday, 23 April 2022
Much has changed for Foals since their current run of shows were first announced. Initially scheduled to support 2019’s twin releases of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 and 2, so much time has passed that the group are now set to release... Read more... |
Gillam, NYOS, Hasan, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - stunning variety from the new generationMonday, 18 April 2022
I expected the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Usher Hall concert to be jam-packed with a joyful melee of admiring friends and relatives. This is a vast orchestra of over 100, and it wouldn’t take that many aunts and uncles to fill the Usher’... Read more... |
Philippens, BBCSSO, Wigglesworth, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - peace and triumph side by sideMonday, 14 March 2022
Mark Wigglesworth is a semi-regular guest with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and he’s hugely experienced in the opera world, which might explain why my expectations were so high for his Wagner in this concert. In the event, though, I didn’t... Read more... |
SCO, Leleux, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review – new concerto for a deepening partnershipSaturday, 05 March 2022
You may well have seen a concerto performance that has been “directed from the keyboard”, or maybe even one that’s “led from the violin”, but have you ever seen a concerto that’s directed from the oboe?It’s quite a sight, I can tell you, and it... Read more... |
RSNO, Davis, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review – warm Elgar, chilly Vaughan Williams, red hot playingSaturday, 26 February 2022
“You’ll have to forgive me”, said Sir Andrew Davis at the start of this concert’s second half, “but I’m going to sit down.” As he lowered himself onto his podium stool, he let it slip that this was the first concert he had conducted in more than two... Read more... |
Grosvenor, SCO, Emelyanychev / Osborne, RSNO, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - two orchestras in pursuit of innovationTuesday, 08 February 2022
Two pianists; two concertos; two orchestras. It is not often that Edinburgh’s most venerable concert hall plays host, on consecutive nights, to two of our national orchestras offering strikingly similar programmes.While the Scottish Chamber... Read more... |
Messiah, Dunedin Consort, Butt, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh - period clarity infused with loveMonday, 20 December 2021
This time last year, the moment I knew things were really bad was when the Dunedin Consort cancelled Messiah. All performances since the summer of 2020 had been online films, but Dunedin cancelled even their online Messiah because it would involve... Read more... |
Grace Petrie, Summerhall, Edinburgh review - songs of solidarityMonday, 22 November 2021
“How to explain Theresa May?” Grace Petrie muses from the Summerhall stage as she introduces decade-old opener “Farewell To Welfare”. “Well, in 2010, she was as bad as we thought it was going to get.”That is, on the face of it, the problem with... Read more... |
Dennis, SCO, Whelan, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - period touches and classical sparkleSaturday, 30 October 2021
Peter Whelan is best known to Scottish audiences from his years of service as principal bassoon in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He left to pursue other projects several years ago, the most illustrious of which has probably been his work with the... Read more... |
