A bazaar performance underscores Istanbul’s Unusual Music Festival

By Jonathan Sutherland, 08 June 2017

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“there is a surprisingly calming effect in this mystical, magical music”

Reviewed at Grand Bazaar, Istanbul on 4 June 2017

Şimdi Ensemble

Michel Godard, Serpent

Dazzling Prokofiev from Alim Beisembayev and the RLPO

Peter Connors, 26th April

In an all-Russian programme in Liverpool, Alim Beisembayev gives a breathtaking performance of Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto.

****1

A Evgeny Kissin tour de force in Boston

Kevin Wells, 25th April

Andrey Boreyko makes an impressive debut with the Boston Symphony, where Evgeny Kissin performs in not one, but two piano concertos.

****1

Wretches like us: the LPO’s concert Wozzeck cuts to the quick

Peter Quantrill, 25th April

Beautifully prepared singing and playing brings out the tender side to Berg's modernist classic as part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

****1

Peter Whelan and Carlos Ferreira ignite Brahms and Weber in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 24th April

Peter Whelan drew rare urgency and transparency from Brahms, while Carlos Ferreira’s lyrical finesse elevated Weber beyond expectation.

*****

Patriotic angst with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Thomas Zehetmair

Nick Butters, 24th April

Patriotic Sibelius and early Mendelssohn are served up at the Glasshouse in Gateshead.

***11

Stephen Hough makes a convincing case for Rachmaninov 1 with the RSNO

Simon Thompson, 24th April

On a return visit to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, John Wilson shapes A London Symphony with melancholy sweep.

****1

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Jonathan Sutherland

Jonathan Sutherland is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is also an internationally renowned concert pianist specializing in the music of the 1930s. Jonathan’s first operatic experience was hearing Maria Callas sing Tosca in Covent Garden and he has since heard performances in all continents of the world including over 60 different productions at the Wiener Staatsoper. He has written for The Australian, Opera Today and The Opera Critic as well as Bachtrack. Jonathan speaks English, French, German and Italian fluently and is based in the south of France near Nice.