Celebrated Sitar Player Niladri Kumar To Make His Howard Assembly Room Debut
Audiences will have a rare opportunity to catch sitar maestro and award-winning film composer Niladri Kumar in Leeds on Thursday 16 May, when he brings his immersive musical experience to the Howard Assembly Room for the very first time.
BBC Proms Unveils Its 2024 Programme
The BBC Proms will kick off on Friday 19 July and continue through to Saturday 14 September 2024. 73 of the 90 Proms will take place at the Royal Albert Hall and 17 at venues across the UK This season features some of the world’s best international orchestras and their conductors.
Rare Chance To Bag A Bargain At Opera North’s Costume Sale
Anyone who has ever fancied dressing like an opera diva or adding some drama to their wardrobe will want to head to Opera North in the heart of Leeds next month for the first sale of costumes from the company’s archives since 2005.
Albums: Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department.
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Named after a chat group Joe Alwyn has with Paul Mescal,The Tortured Poets Department is very much a break-up album, yet, in true Swift style, it is difficult to decipher which of the lyrics fully relate to reality and which have been crafted in the realms of storytelling. The album's title track, with its nods to Patti Smith and Dylan Thomas, clearly connects several moments to her and Alwyn.
Classical Music: Robert Schumann: Piano Works
This double CD set features Llyr Williams' performances. Somehow, given his distinguished career, I have failed to encounter Williams before. Where have I been? His playing is precise and captures something of the Romantic period. The recording quality is excellent.
Classical Music: Brahms & Busoni
Brahms & Busoni Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto, Op. 77; Ferruccio Busoni Violin Concerto, Op.
Albums: The Feeling San Vito
Album opener, War’s Not Won, shows that the band have never lost sight of the sound that made them household names – with the strongest echoes of their debut album since it was released – yet, the whole record takes this winning formula and reinvigorates and redesigns it with killer effect.
Albums: Compilation - Now 117
Now music compilations are always a good indicator of what is current in the UK singles charts. Since the series premiered in 1983, the compilation series has spawned various configurations
Classical Music: Chopin Obsession By Marina Arsenijevic
Her obsession with Chopin means the subtleties of his miniatures shine from a pianist who appreciates the fine detail; this glorious album takes us on a wonderful journey through some of his best and least-known piano works.
Take That - This Life On Tour
When Take That reunited in 2006 after their breakup, the group returned stronger and more popular than before. Now with Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, and Howard Donald seemingly back for good, the trio arrived at Sheffield Arena for the start of their This Life tour—a mammoth 41-date outing across the country, selling over 700,000 tickets in the process.
Classical Music: Path to the Moon
The multiple contributors to this CD demand supplementary listening just as the paintings demand supplementary viewing, but I will be narrowing the field down to just four: Korngold, Takemitsu, Lilli Boulanger, and Nina Simone (Jonathan King). These are selected for no more elevated reason than that they have destroyed fewer forests than the likes of Debussy or Britten.
Classical Music: Tchaikovsky & Korngold String Sextets
The interaction between the standard sextet combination of two violins, two violas, and two cellos is irresistibly charismatic. The intricacies of both scores are produced with acumination, enabling the harmonic language to be savoured.
Albums: Lyra.
Opening with the slick America, it is clear that Lyra has the production values to make it on the international stage, but it is with the Rihanna-driven Drink Me Up that the album kicks into fifth gear.
Albums: James Yummy
The lead single from the album, Is This Love, opens this strong and stellar set of new songs. Questioning the meaning of love, the track is James firing on all cylinders, sounding fresh and invigorating with a joyful aplomb.
Acclaimed Symphony Orchestra Launches Harrogate’s New Summer Festival Season
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) will launch this year’s Harrogate Music Festival with a grand opening night performance at the stunning Royal Hall. The concert, hosted by Harrogate International Festivals, takes place on 8 June and kicks off a thrilling summer season featuring the best in classical and chamber music.
Classical Music: Gabríel Ólafs
This short, four-minute work captures his enthusiasm, using cello and piano effectively, to create a beautiful, lilting melody with such an efficacious orchestration.
Mahler And Strauss At Huddersfield Town Hall
Let me start with a boast: the last time I heard a Mahler symphony was in San Francisco, under the baton of the world famous Michael Tilson Thomas. Surely a production at Huddersfield Town Hall with a provincial orchestra would be worthy, but somehow inferior.
Well, how wrong can you be?
Katie Stillman Announced As New Leader Of The Orchestra Of Opera North
Opera North has announced the appointment of Katie Stillman as the new Leader of the Orchestra of Opera North effective from August.
The Overtones In Conversation
After the success of last year's sell-out tour, the UK's number 1 multi-platinum selling vocal harmony group, The Overtones, will be bringing a non-stop party featuring songs for all the family. The set will include their original songs plus covers from the likes of Stevie Wonder, The Drifters, Frankie Valli, and The Four Seasons, plus festive favourites!
Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 9
Classical Music: Ravel, Lennox Berkeley, Adam Pounds
Chapeau to John Wilson and the London Sinfonia for producing another stellar recording. Such glorious music is performed with grace and elegance, from three composers whose works are interconnected: Ravel was a mentor to Lennox Berkeley, and Berkeley to Pounds.
Classical French Music Lang Lang Plays Saint-Saëns
There are times when classical music must wake up and realise that, despite the foibles of a particular recording, it can be an excellent means of expanding the genre for a larger audience. Surely, not a bad philosophy?
Rising Stars At Sledmere
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An exciting new recital series welcomes the future stars of the classical music and opera world to perform in the splendour of Sledmere House in Yorkshire Three lunchtime recitals in the spring (27 April, 12 and 25 May) will showcase the talents of musicians from the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, as well as two former Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artists Music h…
Tramlines Festival Reveals Stage Splits For 2024 Event
Tramlines Festival, Sheffield’s biggest party, has revealed the stage splits and the incredible grassroot talent winners of the Apply To Play talent competition for the 2024 edition, taking place at the 40,000 capacity Hillsborough Park from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th July. Each of the festivals’ five stages has something completely different to offer.
Cantorelli To Perform In Aid Of Never Hungary Again
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Cantorelli will be performing a concert at St James the Great, Hebden Bridge Parish Church at 7.30pm on Friday, 5th April, is in aid of a charity which is very much a part of a theme in Calderdale's 50th anniversary celebrations commencing in April. Never Hungry Again aims to support children and young people and eradicate local food poverty.
DEADLETTER Support: Velkro And Sun King
A new band, or in this case, three new bands. There is always a frisson when I’m seeing a band I’ve never seen before and don’t know much about. I think all of us who love going to gigs know that feeling. Will this be my next favourite band? A band I will see many times? A band that might go on to be huge? Or one that will simply fade away?
The Miracle Behind The Legend
Group Editor Andrew Palmer delves into The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography a new biography of probably one of the most misunderstood opera stars of her day, the incomparable soprano Maria Callas, whose life has been so vividly captured by music critic Sophia Lambton with a cornucopia of never-published personal correspondence. Who was Maria Callas?
Gigs: Hot Water Music
In 1979, Crass famously announced that Punk is Dead. Fifteen years later, Hot Water Music, taking their name from a Charles Bukowski collection of short stories, formed in Gainesville, Florida. Thirty years later, punk is definitely not dead, as the doyen of Leeds venues, The Brudenell, hosts a night of American punk to raise the spirits and the fists.
Classical Music: Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works, Vol 2
The beauty of this volume is that it has several unfamiliar works that are by no means to be underestimated; the rarities are marvellous, and resurrecting them, I hope, will lead to more concert hall programming.
Albums: Mae Defays - A Deeper Ocean
A brilliant triumph that does not disappoint on an album that is pure class from beginning to end.