Tom Bird
Articles By Tom Bird
latest in today
Suede, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - a messianic perfor...
“Why do we come to concerts?” asks Brett Anderson, Suede’s ringmaster and vocalist, before launching into an acoustic version of “The Wild Ones”...
First Person: Donatella Flick on why the conducting competit...
What are the qualities that make a great conductor? It’s...
Album: Depeche Mode - Memento Mori
Depeche Mode’s Andy “Fletch” Fletcher, who died in May last year, was generally held to contribute to the dynamic of the band more than the music...
The Chevalier, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - virtuoso jou...
Shimmeringly urbane, shifting effortlessly from intricate agility to muscular intensity, the music of the 18th century composer Joseph Bologne is...
First Person: Anna Clyne on composing collaborations, not ba...
Collaboration fuels a lot of my music – I love the interaction that takes me outside of my natural tendencies – it’s a source of...
Robert Forster, Lafayette review - élan, spontaneity and tho...
“Learn to Burn” generates the loudest and most sustained applause. As it was originally the opening track of Robert Forster’s 2015 album Songs...
Album: Black Honey - A Fistful of Peaches
There’s a disconnect on the third album by Brighton rockers Black Honey. The music is rousing post-grunge indie...
Turandot, Royal Opera review - spectacle and sound wow in th...
Nearly 40 years old, Andrei Serban’s Royal Opera Turandot feels like a gilded relic (I felt like a relic myself on learning that my...
Osborne, RSNO, Chan, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - cinematic sweep...
Two women featured prominently in this programme; the one a composer and the other a conductor.
To the composer first. Long before she hit...
The Beasts review - a countryside idyll loses its charm
The Beasts (As Bestas) is all of two hours and 17 minutes long, and yet to look away is never an option. ...