Sensitive and passionate chamber musicianship as Catherine Leonard and Hugh Tinney enthrall with the second concert of three in their Beethovenian violin sonatas cycle.
Capturing the feistiness and humour of these sonatas perfectly, Catherine Leonard and Hugh Tinney give a revealing and outstanding performance of three Beethoven Violin Sonatas.
Michael Collins' golden tone delights in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in a concert featuring the world première of Gwilym Simcock's latest composition, On a Piece of Tapestry.
A stunning collaboration between Hampson and Amsterdam Sinfonietta at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, with works by Schoenberg, Wolf, Schubert and Barber.
Akin to medieval knights of old, the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is on a quest called “The Beethoven Journey”. Collaborating with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, this stop on the journey in Dublin was enthralling.
Last night’s performance of The Mikado was a historical moment for the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society (affectionately known as the “R&R”) as it celebrates its centenary this year. Its very first performance in the Queen’s Theatre, Dublin in 1913 was also Gilbert and Sullivan’s much-loved Mikado, representing a satisfying continuity with last night’s performance.
There is a tendency in the reviews of Marin Alsop to start by mentioning the obvious; that is, she is the first female conductor to have conducted the last night of the Proms and that she is the first female Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. So let me start with the surprising: that Alsop is Irish.
At one point in the classic 1950 film All About Eve, the inimitable theatre critic Addison DeWitt speaks reverently of his art as critic: “I have lived in the theatre as a Trappist monk lives in his faith. I have no other world; no other life – and once in a great while, I experience that moment of revelation for which all true believers wait and pray.
Tonight was the Dublin première of Dvořák’s opera Rusalka, and the most surprising fact about this is that it took 112 years for this enchanting opera to make its debut here. For, as tonight’s performance so aptly illustrated, Rusalka is a glorious work on so many different levels: it has hauntingly beautiful melodies, daring orchestral harmonies and an enchanting but ultimately tragic love story.
Starting the role of principal conductor of a new orchestra may be compared to trying out a new car. There is of course the initial thrill of the novelty of it all, testing the performance of the vehicle; how quickly it can accelerate, how smooth are the transitions from one speed to another.
