Prom 4: John Adams conducts the Orchestra of the RAM and The Juilliard School

By Paul Kilbey, 17 July 2012

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Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 16 July 2012

Respighi, Feste romane (Roman Festivals)

Ravel, Piano Concerto in G major

Adams, City Noir

Dame Imogen Cooper, Piano

Juilliard Orchestra

Royal Academy Sinfonia

John Adams, Conductor

Emotion and mayhem: a golden double bill from Royal Academy Opera

Stephen Pritchard, 18th March

Students triumph in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges.

****1

Royal Academy tackles The Threepenny Opera

David Karlin, 15th June

Brecht and Weill's tirade against Big Money is exceptionally well acted throughout; vocal and musical performances are more mixed.

***11

Flinty graves: a chilling Poppea

Dominic Lowe, 20th May

In Shoreditch, the Royal Academy of Music showed off some superb singing in a chilling exploration of tyranny and unrestrained power.

****1

A marriage of youth and experience

Matthew Rye, 30th October

A polished production of The Marriage of Figaro from some of the potential opera stars of the future.

****1

John Adams leads Americana, past and present, with LA Phil

Néstor Castiglione, 23rd January

Compelling as a composer and conductor, Adams restored Roy Harris' Third Symphony to the Los Angeles repertoire, alongside one of his most recent works.

*****

John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra arrives at the Met

David Wolfson, 12th May

John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra puts the composer's propulsive music at the service of both moments of riveting human drama and less effective scenes of battle and politics.

****1

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Paul Kilbey

Paul was Reviews Editor at Bachtrack from 2012 to February 2014. He has written on music and culture for publications including Culture Wars, the Huffington Post, the Independent and the Guardian. He holds BA and MPhil degrees in music from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and is particularly passionate about contemporary music of all types. His website is here.