Journalist, photographer and social commentator.
Seen July 21, 2017 in Holland Park, London Leoš Janáček’s obsession with a woman almost 40 years his junior can seem very unattractive on paper. But Kamila Stösslová didn’t seem to care much one way or another. And Janáček’s (unrequited?) […]
Interview with Alisa Weilerstein at the Royal Albert Hall, London, July 2017 The American cellist Alisa Weilerstein could probably tour the world playing the cello concertos of Elgar, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich ad infinitum. You can still build a career […]
Herrenchiemsee Festspiele 18-30 July 2017 ‘Mad’ king Ludwig II of Bavaria may have been genuinely mad towards the end of his life, but he also deserves to be remembered as the ‘opera’ king. Richard Wagner could not have afforded to […]
Jenůfa by Leoš Janáček, seen July 2017 Grange Park Opera, Theatre in the Woods at West Horsley Place. Janáček’s associated his opera Jenůfa with both the death of his young son Vladimir and the slow and tortuous illness that took […]
Il Turco in Italia, music: Gioachino Rossini libretto: Felice Romani, seen at Wormsley, Garsington Opera, 2 July 2017 It is the vitality of Il Turco in Italia’s overture, with its wonderful plaintive horn solo, that immediately sucks you into Rossini’s […]
Albert Herring, music: Benjamin Britten, libretto:Eric Crozier, seen at The Grange Festival , June 25 2017 Why did Benjamin Britten not write more comedy operas? On the evidence of this Grange Festival production he was clearly seriously good at being […]