Simon lives and works in Edinburgh, and teaches History and Modern Studies at a local high school when he is not writing about music. Born an Irishman, he is an enthusiastic adopted Scot, and has lived in the capital for fifteen years since university days, making the most of its many avenues for classical music. He spends his spare time enthusing about music, theatre, art and literature to anyone who will listen, including his long-suffering students, who have no choice.
The main concert of their Edinburgh International Festival residency showed off conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali's fluid style and soloist Seong-Jin Cho's masterful musicianship.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason shows emotional depth in Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto, while the lightness of the RSNO Junior Chorus creates a heavenward-bound Fauré Requiem.
The RSNO and Steven Osborne listen to one another wonderfully and play beautifully, but perhaps the loveliest thing is the sound of an undistanced audience for the first time in two years.
The EIF finale brings a Covid-related cancellation, but French conductor Lionel Bringuier replaces Kazushi Ono to help the SCO close the festival in style.
You don’t get to win the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition by being a shrinking violet. Mariam Batsashvili demonstrates fistfuls of chords in Edinburgh.
