Prom 6: Impressive and inspiring Anglo-American cooperation

By Nick Boston, 24 July 2019

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“Gardner held the disparate elements of this complex piece together with clarity”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 22 July 2019

Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Metacosmos (UK premiere)

Britten, Violin Concerto

Bach, Violin sonata no. 2 in A minor, BWV1003: Andante

Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring

Knussen, Flourish with Fireworks, Op.22

James Ehnes, Violin

Orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School

Edward Gardner, Conductor

The Royal Academy's Carmen has too many what-if moments

Dominic Lowe, 18th November

Presenting a work like Carmen is a punchy move by a conservatoire. The Royal Academy of Music's production has conceptual weaknesses, but features some good singing.

***11

Royal Academy Opera stages a magical Zauberflöte

Mark Valencia, 18th March

A lyrical yet zesty account of Mozart's' adorable score, in a production that is on the nose and off the wall.

****1

A dystopian Hansel und Gretel at the RAM

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Jack Furness serves up an unappetising mess of Humperdinck's delicious masterpiece for Royal Academy Opera.

***11

Celebratory Mahler 3 from the The Royal Academy of Music and Bychkov

Roy Westbrook, 23rd June

The Royal Academy of Music marks its 200th anniversary with Mahler's all-embracing Third Symphony, a work that fills both the evening and the concert platform.

****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

Portraits and pictures from Ibragimova, Gardner and the LPO

Roy Westbrook, 1st April

From Three Screaming Popes to Pictures at an Exhibition, a pair of works inspired by paintings frame a violin concerto by Béla Bartók at London's Southbank Centre.

****1

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Nick Boston

Nick has an MA in Music, specialising in performance and repertoire. His particular passions are choral music, chamber music and opera, with a particular interest in early music. He sings in a number of choirs in the south east of England, plays the piano and occasionally dusts off the violin. He writes about music here.