BRAȘOV IN A DAY
Does the city of Braşov need the white Hollywood type of sign up on Mount Tampa? Not really, it can boast a far more interesting history than the sleazy capital of film. Transylvania’s second city is perhaps slightly lacking in […]
THE BRASSY CABBIE FROM BRASOV
“My friend – Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At three tomorrow the diligence will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo Pass my carriage will await […]
A MUSIC JEWEL IN BUCHAREST
Bucharest is not a place you fall in love with straight away. It might take a few days. Or, as in my case, a return visit. Seventy years ago the monarchy was abolished and instead a Romanian People’s Republic was […]
A GRANDIOSE CLASSICAL MUSIC FEST IN BUCHAREST
The biennial Enescu festival is a classical music fest with a difference. In my previous blog I have tried to explain why it is so unique and absurdly grandiose. In that sense it is reminiscent of the Palatul Parlamentului ( […]
CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS GALORE IN BUCHAREST
The Enescu Festival, 2-24 September, Bucharest, Romania The 23rd edition of the George Enescu festival has just finished. This biennial event held in the Romanian capital Bucharest manages to be both bizarre and totally marvelous. Bizarre because when it comes […]
YOUNG MUSICIANS SCALE THE HEIGHTS AT VERBIER FESTIVAL
I am not surprised that so many musicians return to the Verbier Festival year after year. The top soloists probably don’t get paid as much as they normally would get for a concert, but the real carrot is that they […]
The hills are alive with the sound of Kissin
Verbier Festival visited 25-28 July, 2017 Verbier in the south-western Swiss Alps offers pretty awesome views. The village, which during the high season turns into a town, lies at about 1500 metres. But if it is truly spectacular panoramas you’re […]
Searing Kát’a Kabanová in Holland Park
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?) […]
ALISA WEILERSTEIN CHAMPIONS THE NEW
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 – FESTIVAL FIT FOR A KING
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 […]
MOVING JENUFA at WEST HORSLEY PLACE
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 […]
ROSSINI OPERA IS A TURKISH DELIGHT
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 […]