Journalist, photographer and social commentator.
BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, Friday 28 August 2015 prom 57 I have no idea “how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall” , but at the Chamber Orchestra of Europe’s recent BBC Proms concert (no.57) the hall was […]
Michael Beutler has landed his site-specific, massive installation called Moby Dick in the historic hall of the former train station Hamburger Bahnhof. This is by far Berlin’s coolest art museum that undeservedly doesn’t pull in the hipster crowds that other […]
The 104th edition of the Bayreuth Festival has just kicked off with Christian Thielemann conducting Tristan und Isolde. Thielemann was recently appointed as the very first music director of the Bayreuther Festspiele. The opening night saw the usual procession of German celebrities, high nobility […]
ROBERTO DEVEREUX by GAETANO DONIZETTI Libretto: Salvatore Cammarano Bayerische Staatsoper, seen at the Nationaltheater in Munich, 15th of July 2015 Age is no hindrance, when you are singing. Placido Domingo is 74 years old and has during the last decade […]
ARABELLA by R. Strauss/H. von Hofmannsthal Seen at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich 14/07/2015 I have been racking my brain for a couple of days now, but I am pretty sure it is called an ‘archaic smile’. Anja Harteros’s lips […]
SAMSON ET DALILA by CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Seen at Grange Park Opera June 24, 2015 The story, taken from the Book of Judges, about a classic haircut is well-known. We are all familiar with that sinking feeling and loss of potency […]
Benjamin Britten’s last opera, seen at Garsington Opera at Wormsley, 23 June 2015 Benjamin Britten composed Death in Venice, based on Thomas Mann’s much admired novella, knowing that he didn’t have long to live. He prioritised composing the opera over […]