SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, BROADCASTS, AND THEATRE
United Kingdom Prokofiev, Mozart, Alex Woolf, Beethoven: Elizabeth Watts (soprano), London Mozart Players / Howard Shelley, Jane Glover, Hilary Davan Wetton, Gerard Korsten (conductors). Phoenix Concert Hall at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, 18.9.2019. (JB)
United Kingdom Gilbert and Sullivan, HMS Pinafore: Soloists, chorus and musicians of Opera della Luna / Michael Waldron (piano/musical director). Wilton’s Music Hall, London, 28.8.2019. (JB)
United Kingdom Bach, Liszt: Yu-Ning Chuang (piano), Keyboard Charitable Trust at Steinway Hall, London, 5.6.2019. (JB)
United Kingdom Bach, Albeniz, Chopin: Hao Zi Yoh (piano) The Keyboard Charitable Trust at Steinway Hall, London. 15.5,2019. (JB)
United Kingdom THREE/8:38/SEVEN: Viviana Durante and Company, Wilton’s Music Hall, London, 8.5.2019. (JB)
Every young, aspiring, instrumental soloist knows that she is up against the stiffest competition. Competitions have been known to launch these rare talents. Competitions also invariably leave exceptional talent behind. I have noticed repeatedly that my own preferences would sometimes go to a second or third place. If the Competition is important (ugly word there) enough, the second and third winners will get a fairly thorough launching too.
Hugh Grant tells the tale of when he was playing the part of the presumed husband of Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) in the hugely entertaining film, he asked director, Stephen Frears, whether the man was an adventurer after Foster Jenkins’s money or genuinely in love with the woman who was living a passionately dedicated life of self-deception. How should I know? replied Frears, You’re the actor.
