Christopher Sallon

LPO’s Ravel packs a punch and says hello to the circus

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Ravel: Circa (Yaron Lifschitz [artistic director, stage and lighting designer], Libby McDonnell [costume designer]), BBC Singers, London Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London. 23.4.2025. (CSa)

Acrobats of Circa performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra © Pete Woodhead

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Raffaello Morales, Farringdon’s Renaissance man talks to Christopher Sallon

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Fidelio Café’s Raffaello Morales in conversation with Christopher Sallon

Fidelio Café

‘It’s an amazing coincidence!’ exclaims Raffaello Morales, the 37- year-old, Italian-born owner, manager, conductor, and musical entrepreneur behind the Fidelio Café. From the small first floor office of his Farringdon premises, he points towards a small house located just across the road dedicated to the nineteenth-century Italian patriot, exile and father of the Risorgimento Giuseppe Mazzini. Morales regards Mazzini as an inspirational figure. Although these two men are separated by more than a century (Mazzini died in 1872 and Morales was born in 1987), there are uncanny coincidences which link them, beyond mere nationality and their connection to ‘Little Italy’, as this area of Clerkenwell is still known.

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Turning Ove a new Leif: Andsnes and MCO colleagues perform neoclassical treasures and rare quintets

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Stravinsky, Villa-Lobos, Poulenc and Vierne: Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), Musicians from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra: Chiara Tonelli (flute), Olivier Doise (oboe), Vicente Alberola Ferrando (clarinet), Guilhaume Santana (bassoon), José Vicente Castelló (horn), Matthew Truscott (violin), May Kunstovny (violin), Joel Hunter (viola), Frank-Michael Guthmann (cello). Wigmore Hall, London. 12.3.2025. (CSa)

Leif Ove Andsnes (centre) with members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at a previous concert

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Thanks for the memories: Abel Selaocoe and Aurora Orchestra give an unforgettable performance

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Selaocoe and Beethoven: Abel Selaocoe (cello), Bernhard Schimpelsberger (percussion), Aurora Orchestra / Nicholas Collon (conductor). Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 8.3.2025. (CSa)

Nicholas Collon conducts cellist Abel Selaocoe, percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger and the Aurora Orchestra © Daniel Dittus

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Historic Shostakovich from Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic: A concert for our times

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Shostakovich: Sheku Kanneh-Mason (Cello) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov (conductor). Barbican Hall, London, 7.3. 2025. (CSa)

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Semyon Bychkov © Mark Allan/Barbican

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