Interviews

All the Seen and Heard Interviews

CONDUCTOR TOM HAMMOND IN CONVERSATION WITH ROBERT BEATTIE

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Tom Hammond talks to Robert Beattie

Tom Hammond (c) Gareth Barton

Tom Hammond is a London-based conductor, recording producer, and Festival Director. As well as being  Music Director/Principal Conductor of the Finchley, Hertford and St Albans Symphony Orchestras, Tom also directs youth orchestras in Hatfield and Watford, and is a Guest Conductor for the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Palestine, and in this country with the Orchestra of the Swan, which is based in Stratford-upon-Avon. Tom is a founding Artistic Director of the Hertfordshire Festival of Music, an annual summer celebration of classical music held in various venues in Hertfordshire which celebrates its fifth consecutive year in 2020.

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CONDUCTOR HERVÉ NIQUET INTERVIEWED ABOUT GRÉTRY’S RICHARD, COEUR DE LION

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Hervé Niquet discusses Grétry’s opera, Richard, Coeur de Lion with Colin Clarke

Hervé Niquet  (c) Julien Mignot

Opéra Versailles’s production of Grétry’s Richard, Coeur de Lion recently was a great success (review click here). The morning after the first performance of the run, I meet Hervé Niquet in an achingly cool hotel in Versailles. Open and friendly, he is an interviewer’s dream.

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SOPRANO ANGELA GHEORGHIU IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL COOKSON

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Angela Gheorghiu talks to Michael Cookson

Angela Gheorghiu © Cosmin Gogu

Clearly relishing the beautiful summer weather in Dresden, the day I met Angela Gheorghiu for interview at her hotel she was looking cool in her blue and white striped summer dress, straw hat and wearing sandals. Bringing her family with her the Romanian soprano was in rehearsal for a few days preparing for her appearance in her signature role as heroine Tosca in the revival of Johannes Schaaf production at Semperoper. This is my report (click here) from what was one of the finest performances I have encountered in an opera house, a special Tosca with Gheorghiu in imperious form.

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Karabits Shares with Ian Lace his Impressions of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius

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Kirill Karabits, Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, delivered a profoundly moving performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius on May 15th 2019 to conclude the BSO’s 2018/19 season. Following this (click here), I asked Kirill Karabits about his impressions of Elgar’s masterpiece.

Kirill Karabits

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‘MUSICAL MAGIC’: AN INTERVIEW WITH VIOLINIST HENNING KRAGGERUD

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Geoffrey Newman in Conversation with Henning Kraggerud

Henning Kraggerud © Robert Romic

There are few artists who convey a greater sense of communication and discovery in the concert hall than Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud. There is a life-enhancing glow in his appearances, and one surmises that his bountiful inspiration must come from somewhere – perhaps from a tradition that stresses experimentation and an almost Renaissance diversity in musical reach. Kraggerud is not only a beautifully fine-toned and sensitive violin soloist and chamber musician, but a devoted educator, a play/direct specialist, a (sometimes) violist and a composer.

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CONDUCTOR PIETARI INKINEN IN CONVERSATION WITH GREGOR TASSIE

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Pietari Inkinen talks to Gregor Tassie

Pietari Inkinen (c) Nguyen Phuong Thao

The Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen started playing the violin and piano at four years and entered the Sibelius Music Academy graduating in violin studies (2003) and in conducting (2005) after which he studied with Zakhar Bron in Germany. He formed his own Piano Trio – the Inkinen Trio, and also performed in a rock band in Helsinki. He decided to devote his career to conducting and his first position was as chief conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2008-2015). Inkinen recorded all the Sibelius symphonies for Naxos with the NZSO. In April 2019 the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra under Pietari Inkinen are touring Europe in programmes reflecting both the central repertoire and music from the Far East and from Inkinen’s homeland.

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