Albert Ehrnrooth

Journalist, photographer and social commentator.

Culture

WHEN MICHELANGELO, LEONARDO AND RAPHAEL MET IN FLORENCE

Remember when Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappé for only that one magic season lined-up for Fiorentina? Unfortunately that line-up never happened, it’s pure fantasy football. But in terms of talent those three football players come close to the superstar artists that […]

EVIL LUST AND DESPAIR IN ROYAL OPERA’S TOSCA

¨How can you fail with Tosca? … If you fail with Tosca, then there is something incredibly wrong¨, Sir Bryn Terfel told me recently. The Welsh bass-baritone is currently performing at Royal Opera Covent Garden in Jonathan Kent’s revived staging […]

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE DRAWINGS FROM THE ROYAL COLLECTION

It might come as a surprise to Italians and some (foreign) art experts that the Royal Collection Trust (RCT) holds one of the finest groups of Italian Renaissance drawings anywhere in the world. In total the RCT contains almost 2000 […]

BUDAPEST’S SEXY, AUTOMOTIVE CARMEN

An intoxicated man dressed in a white suit, wearing a panama hat enters during the ouverture. He announces that ‘Love is like Death’. I’m not sure who he is quoting, but it’s not Nietzsche, who apparently saw the opera at […]

PROM 61 BRUCKNER 4 WITH THE BAVARIANS AND RATTLE

PROM 61 Thomas Ades, Anton Bruckner, Sir Simon Rattle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle knows Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony like the back of his hand. He had no need for a score when he conducted the work with […]

BRUCKNER WITH THE BERLIN PHIL AT THE BBC PROMS

PROM 56 2024  BRUCKNER Os Justi, Locus iste, Christus factus est, Symphony No.5 in B flat major A visit by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to the BBC Proms is guaranteed to be one of the festival’s highlights. I think their […]

Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Barenboim West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Brahms Violin Orchestra

THE MUTTER OF ALL BRAHMS CONCERTOS

PROM 31, 11 August, London, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Barenboim, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra The West-Eastern Divan orchestra was formed a quarter of century ago, when a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was still on the cards. The friendship between the […]

SAARIAHO’S HALLUCINATIONS, SEONG-JIN CHO’S FEATHER TOUCH

BBC PROM 27, Friday 9 August, 2024 BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Sakari Oramo Kaija Saariaho’s composition Mirage takes its inspiration from the life of Maria Sabina, a shaman and visionary of the Mazatec people in Mexico. She used chants and […]

A KINKY MADAMA BUTTERFLY IN BRATISLAVA

Seen: June 27 June, Bratislava , Slovak National Theatre Is opera an outdated genre? I urge you to see the Slovak National Theatre’s new production of Madama Butterfly and then argue that old operas have only limited relevance. The plot […]

THE YUNCHAN LIM BBC PROM

Prom 14, July 2024 will be recorded in the annals as the Yunchan Lim Prom. With the Royal Albert Hall packed to the acoustic mushroom rafters, the noise welcoming the South Korean pianist sensation was nothing short of tumultuous. In […]

CANCEL TCHAIKOVSKY’S QUEEN OF SPADES ?

Production seen June 23rd 2023 at The Grange, Northington, Hampshire From afar The Grange at Northington in Hampshire resembles a Grecian temple. But the gently rolling lawns, farmed fields, peaceful lake and trees that surround the impressive neoclassical building couldn’t […]

PROMMERS WARM TO VIKINGUR ÓLAFSSON

BBC Proms Saturday 14 August 2021 S.Prokofiev Symphony no.1,  J.S.Bach Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056, W.A. Mozart Piano concerto no.24, D. Shostakovich Symphony no.9