Hail to the Tallis Scholars, the world’s finest choir of Renaissance music who were in London last night for their first concert in the magnificent St-Martin-in-the-Fields. It was a glorious programme of Antoine Brumel’s 12-part Earthquake Mass, interweaved with sun-centered by American composer David Lang. Lang is one of America’s most-performed composers and his formidable…
London Arts and Culture
London Arts and Culture Blog: If culture vulturing is your thing, this is where you'll want to be. Grab a hot seat for the best art and exhibition, opera and classical music, dance and theatre in London. I sometimes head out of of the capital for out-of-town events.
Review: My Fair Lady – London Coliseum
My Fair Lady has galloped into the London Coliseum this May, and it’s a bloomin’ loverly production. It’s the first major West End revival of the show for 21 years and comes to us via The Lincoln Center Theater and Broadway. It’s brilliantly directed by Bartlett Sher with rising star Amara Okereke as Eliza Doolittle…
Where is Ten Percent filmed? | Les London Locations
Sacré bleu, the French hit series Call my Agent (Dix Pour Cent) has had a British, or should I say a London makeover, and it’s made its recent debut over on Amazon Prime. The series follows the trials, tribulations and love affairs of the talent agency Nightingale Hart. It includes cameo appearances by Helena Bonham…
Review: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie
I have just witnessed Jodie Comer performing a feat which even nine lives Villanelle wouldn’t be able to pull off: a one-hundred-minute solo performance on stage in Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter theatre, without an interval and hardly pausing for breath. She even manages to get drenched, dry off, change outfits – and accents…
Bluebeard’s Castle: London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall
I grew up on regular helpings of Barbe Bleu or Bluebeard as a child, the chilling, grotesque tale of the serial killer who somehow was supposed to appeal to young French minds – together with other delightful tales such as Hansel and Gretel and Red Riding Hood. So, as I headed to the Royal Festival…
Fidelio Orchestra Café: a noteworthy musical salon in Clerkenwell
Last updated on March 29th, 2022Oh happy, happy me. I’m sitting in a buzzy Clerkenwell outpost by the name of Fidelio Orchestra Café, listening to my first round of classical music since the L-word rocked into town and threw café owners and musicians alike into creative and financial disarray. So, it particularly warms the heart…
NW Live at the Bloomsbury Festival 2020
Last updated on October 28th, 2020With further restrictions looming in the London air like a thick Dickensian fog, I spent last week dashing around town trying to tick as many cultural boxes as possible. On Friday, I managed to catch up with some music – and not just any ordinary music. This was the Music…
Oxford Lieder 2020 Review: Song in the Age of Corona
Covid-19 and its pesky restrictions threw a spanner in the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020 works this year, but it didn’t dampen the spirits or the music. The UK’s biggest song festival went online instead, streaming over 40 magnificent recital concerts and events, most of them live and all set in historical surroundings across the city….
Vache Baroque Festival: Dido and Aeneas review
What a cracking start to the shiny new Vache Baroque Festival which kicked off with an enchanting production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. And a double dose of September showers did nothing to dampen the audience’s spirits. We were more than delighted to tuck into the one-hour Baroque fancy in the grounds of this…
Waterperry Opera Festival 2020 – Review: Così fan tutte and Ariel
Last updated on August 17th, 2020This week was one of firsts: I was introduced to the delightful Waterperry Opera Festival; picnicked in a socially-distanced lawn pod listening to Mozart’s Così fan tutte; sampled some of British composer Jonathan Dove’s genius amongst the butterflies and the bumblebees; and got lost in Waterperry Gardens, the festival’s enchanting…