Genre: Live Music 0
Review: Emilia
This is a necessary, thrilling play, its energy and message spill straight into the audience.
Review: Hamish Henderson: On the Radical Road
A selection of the political songs and writings of the great Scottish folklorist
Review: Anthony Pleeth and Tatty Theo Baroque Cello Duo
It takes integrity to stick to such deeply reflective music and project it so well. More than worth spending an hour with.
Review: Jon Rattenbury and Brian Ashworth Guitar Duo
Jon Rattenbury and Brian Ashworth one of the best-known guitar duos on the south coast enjoy a particular way with the classical guitar.
Review: Journeys in Hand – A Musical Fusion from Scotland and Rajasthan
(Further) proof that music transcends all culture and language
Review: Daniel Smith Trio – Blues Piano
More musical mayhem from Daniel Smith, a Jools Holland with jokes.
Review: Sisterhood
Three Women Convicted of Witch Craft Make Peace with Their Fates and Reveal How Little Has Changed
Review: Animal Farm
A swift and telling production that’s quick-swerving on its feet with memorable vocal projection and physical acting that’s a delight and enticement. This outstanding outdoor version feels special.
Review: Lucia di Lammermoor
This is a stunning pocket-sized opera-house quality Lucia. You won’t find a better-sung, more affecting Donizetti this year.
Review: Sussex Flutes, All Saints
Beautifully consummate, with memorable repertoire, they’re a unique group who should be selling discs.
Review: Harmonia Trio Cara Barseghian, Daphne Elston, Elizabeth Shepley
Bracing, innovatively chosen repertoire makes the Harmonia Trio an essential part of music-making in the south.
Review: BBC Prom 33 Musgrave and Brahms Requiem BBC SO & Chorus, Richard Farnes RAH August 7th 2018
A superb reading of the Brahms Requiem. In Phoenix Rising, never before programmed, we find another Thea Musgrave classic.
Review: Chapel Royal, Paul Gregory and Peter Shulski, Bach and Schubert, August 7th 2018
Gregory and Shulski make both works seamless and I the Bach, powerfully truthful. And Gregory’s proved his point with this arrangement too: you see it in a new, summer-laden light.
Review: BBC Prom 28 Mussorgsky, Benjamin, Ravel Ligeti and Debussy NYO, George Benjamin RAH August 4th 2018
An outstanding concert. We need George Benjamin to inspire young players to fall in love with modern works not least his own.
Review: Janice Fehlauer Piano Recital
On the strength of this astonishing recital Janice Fehlauer should be at the Wigmore Hall and with a number of CDs to her credit.
Review: BBC Prom 22 Haydn Symphony 104 in D; Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 2
The Haydn was excellent and we need more. The Vaughan Williams a revelatory cleansing and asserting its stature - which should be international.
Review: Victoria Puttock and Mark Dancer, Saxophone and Piano
An exhilarating recital, from a duo who plan to return in January. Look out for them when you need winter blues blown away by the summer ones.
Review: The Rape of Lucretia
Far from being just timely, this Grimeborn production reinvents how we might feel about this troubling, disturbed and absolutely contemporary piece in a time of #Me Too.
Review: Proms 17 Parry Vaughan Williams Holst Royal Albert Hall July 27th 2018
A revelatory programme, and fresh, flowing performances that pick up the keen lyricism and blow the fustian. A couple more masterpieces we can count on the strength of this one.
Review: Pity
Those receptive to those energies unleashed in the Ionesco, or more fitfully in Saint George and the Dragon will readily see Mullarkey’s almost unique position. What he writes next might define him.
Review: Exit the King
We need such risk-taking theatre back. This outstanding production of Exit the King might just remind us how to get it.
Review: Jon Rattenbury and Brian Ashworth Guitar Duo
Jon Rattenbury and Brian Ashworth one of the best-known guitar duos on the south coast enjoy a particular way with the classical guitar.
Review: Katie Johnstone
Most of all you take away the sheer bravura of Georgia May Hughes’ throwing everything up in the air. She carries the energy to a cheery bleakness. And you want to cheer.
Review: Phillip Dyson 60th Birthday Piano Tour
Dyson proves how supreme he is in conjuring orchestral sonorities in this stand-out recital bringing so-called lighter classics home where they belong.
Review: Hammig String Quartet with Pianist Clare Wibberley Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 A major, Op 26
The ensemble’s absolutely inside the music, and they all fit each other with unanimity and panache.
Review: Summer Holiday
Stunning Ray Quinn and ensemble work their bobby-socks off with notable support from Rob Wicks and his band. Give No. 9 a proper MOT and it’ll strike gold too.
Review: Ellie Blackshaw, Yoko Ono, Paul Gregory Piano Trios
If you care about chamber music, and want to be surprised, this is the place to be.
Review: Hannah Peel, BBC Music Stage, Latitude
Dreamy swirls of quirky electronica to lose yourself in.
Review: Liam Gallagher, BBC Music Stage, Latitude
I'm as surprised as you are, but this actually was my gig of the festival!
Review: And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead at the BBC Music Stage, Latitude
Silly name, stupendous show.
Review: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
It’s not shorter than before, but dare one say it, somehow Sparkier, conveying the author’s economy in a sinewy morality tale.
Review: Hamlet
In Michelle Terry’s quicksilver, quick-quipping Hamlet, much has been proved, from interpretive to gender fluidity in tragic action, that sets a privilege on being in at a beginning.
Review: Joseph Spooner and Glen Capra Russian Cello and Piano Recital
This is first rank cello and piano playing and we’re incredibly lucky these artists live amongst us.
Review: This Is Elvis
Inevitably this stands or falls by Steve Michaels, but it could only be outstanding if the whole production revs around it, and this one fires into life, never letting up. This Is Elvis. Elvis lives. End of.
Review: Imogen Hancock and Jennifer Hughes
Trumpeter Imogen Hancock and pianist Jennifer Hughes gave an outstandingly vital recital at All Saints.
Review: As You Like It
A ripping discovery, a spontaneity and transparent skin to the process makes this thrilling. An As You Like It for the moment, certainly. But a moment of change.
Review: Sense and Sensibility
An adaptation to surprise and thrill you. Jessica Swale’s made Sense and Sensibility wholly hers, and quintessentially Austen at the same time. The cast render it a delight.
Review: Christina McMaster Recital
Christina McMaster confirms we hardly need the Wigmore if such artists travel to Brighton for the Chapel Royal and a few other venues.
Review: The Winter’s Tale
If Sicilia and its dense expressive syntax could rise elsewhere, this might be altogether remarkable. As it is, enjoy its slow burn.
Review: Eliette Harris and Joshua Urben, Violin and Piano Recital
A tremendous burgeoning; I hope this duo continue.
Review: Maeve Jenkinson, Sarah Davison, Rachel Fryer Schubert Piano Trio No. 1 in Bb, D898
This is first-class music-making, the kind that persuades you you don’t need to travel up to the Wigmore Hall or wait for the Festival and fringe to enjoy all round music-making of this calibre.
Review: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
The genius of this production is to keep hilarity airborne whilst slipping in something poisonous. You must see this.
Review: Johan de Cock Piano Recital
Revelatory pianism from a composer pianist who proves classic and film music adaptations belong in the same repertoire.
Review: Patrick Avery Guitar Recital
Exquisitely performed. It takes nerve and artistry to perform so consistently slowly till near the end: a fascinating career to watch.
Review: Juliet Edwards and Yoko Ono Four Hand Piano, Ravel and Rachmaninov
From Yoko Ono’s sweeping glissandi in the Ravel through to Edwards taking her treble line in the Rachmaninov, the unanimity of their performance is really distinguished playing.
Review: LIPS Wind Quintet
LIPS are a superb ensemble, and typical of the Chapel Royal team to have discovered them.
Review: Legally Blonde
You must see this. Apart from the heroic production itself, if there’s one outstanding performer it has to be Lucie Jones with Rita Simons’ superb support. Jones' voice is stunning, stratospheric, above all characterful.
Review: The Two Noble Kinsmen
We’re looking at a bright Book of Hours. Barrie Rutter’s done it profound service, adding a warmth and agency that opens up this pageant. This is hopefully just the first of many such he’ll bring to the Globe.
Review: The Fabulous Bäckström Brothers
An operatic clown show, first performed in Helsinki in September 2014.
Review: random/generations
In a season featuring not before time several superb women dramatists – Enid Bagnold and Charlotte Jones follow – starting with tucker green is a proud moment for Chichester.
Review: Organ Recital, All Saints
A superb double-recital to celebrate the return of the Hill organ.
Review: Michele Roszak and Lynda Spinney: Music in May
Michele Roszak’s as ever a richly engaging singer pushing her range through the soprano register. Always pushing new repertoire too she ranges widely here. Lynda Spinney’s acute understanding maximises their impact.
Review: The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety
A melange of music, spoken word and performance, musing on mental health.
Review: Crazy For You
This is a blast of the purest kind. You have to see it. In terms of talent on display worked to a supreme ensemble pitch, this is quite simply the most stunning pure musical I’ve seen this year.
Review: The Tempest
A superb, fleet outdoor Tempest. What it has to lack in quiet subtlety, it more than makes up in fleet humour with dispatch, keen wit, warmth, and truth.
Review: Into the Woods
This is an outstanding first-class revival, but more, it’s intimate knowing and innocent at the same time: it sports a residual wisdom beyond its brief.
Review: My Father Held A Gun
"A passionate, storytelling show with live cinematic music about war and peace, acts of heroism, and the love for life."
Review: Whaddya Know – We’re In Love!
There’s first-class musical entertainment here, crouched under the disguise of a schoolboy plot. Irresistible.
Review: If I Catch Alphonso, Tonight!
Jenner’s moved out of the comfort zone of his Coward years which suit him particularly, or straight acting. It’s a remarkable feat.
Review: Meera Maharaj (flute) and Dominic Degavino (piano)
One of the most exciting flute recitals I’ve attended. Maharaj is back on September 20th at All Saints.
Review: Lana Trotovsek and Yoko Misumi
Lana Trotovsek and Yoko Misumi are a compelling duo, and I’ve not heard violin playing of that force and character for a long time.
Review: Eastward Ho!
This is one of the most exuberant and superbly orchestrated Read Not Deads I’ve seen.
Review: Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues
Powell makes more of the interconnectedness of this music perhaps than anyone since Tatiana Nikolayeva, and more lucidly than anybody ever. Acclimatising himself to the St Michael’s acoustics he delivered something extraordinary.
Review: Bear North
Do come if you want charm, unpredictable choruses and weather. And where else can you see a dancing bear not even brushed backwards in the making of this show?
Review: 4.48 Psychosis
An outstandingly imaginative, fearless recreation of Kane’s testament in another medium. It triumphs and is easily the most remarkable, necessary opera to have been produced in years.
Review: Son of a Preacher Man
Son of a Preacher man has real potential. It’s easily more than a cut above a jukebox musical, and Revel-Horwood’s work particularly coupled with Herbert’s musical arrangements is exemplary. As is the marvellous and marvellously hard-working ensemble.
Review: Flashdance
It’s Joanne Clifton’s night. She lives Alex, dangerously pushing every routine with an extravagance, a hunger, sexiness and raw power that makes it one of the most memorable dance performances in a musical I’ve ever seen.
Review: Flashdance
Review: Quartet
Like The French Lieutenant’s Woman, there are now two endings to Quartet. You must see this if you know the film only, or care about music, ageing, friendship and achingly lost love.
Review: Julius Caesar
Together with several definitive and newly-founded interpretations, it’s Hytner’s lithe political thriller that emerges by contrast as a physical assault on the senses. From out of the smoke and flashes of this outstanding production, there’s jumpings-on and off as participants run up from all sides and even jostle people out of the way.
Review: Rambert
The theatre of Goat, its apotheosis into something else from its comedic opening, is stunning. It’s what the Rambert does; completely reinvent itself and the dance. this and the earlier ballet are outstanding in themselves. The Cunningham company are lucky to learn from them.
Review: The Woman in the Moon
This superb production has shifted our sense of Lyly’s pre-eminence still further. Lyly hugely influenced Shakespeare like no other writer. Lyly remains the Globe’s Read Not Dead greatest rediscovery, and this production underscores that more fully and emphatically than even before, in unexpectedly to this bold, necessary reading.
Review: Electra
As a gifted exploration of Electra’s themes and a transposition of them to 21st century values, this is as exhaustive, detailed and convincing as you’d wish.
Review: Medea Electronica
Like the recent Suppliants, in a very different way, Medea Electronica asks just what we mean by Greek tragedy, what our conceptions of drama without music are. An essential experience.
Review: All’s Well That Ends Well
This is an All’s Well to believe in, and plucks, just this once, a happiness Helena so richly deserves with a husband who equally doesn’t.
Review: The Twilight Zone
I’d like to see a more thorough-going homage to Serling’s work in particular and it’s good he’s at least well-represented here. His acute questioning, exploration of a more human agency and refusal to play too much with inexplicable spectacle marks him out as a more earthy but far more imaginative writer too. His stories are still absolutely contemporary ones: the others have dated as the future often does.
Review: Titus Andronicus
The nadir in this ‘wilderness of tigers’ of late Rome is laughter. It’s devastating. Tears can’t express it any more. The production restores the centrality of Titus’ and Lavinia’s suffering against a moral and military decay about to sweep a ruined country. It’s a land where decent military advisors can no longer operate. We don’t need to look far for parallels in a world where this drama’s unpredictability seems everyday news. A Titus for our times, yes but this Titus fits all times, and restores the terrible to stare back at us. It’s what we hope to avoid, which makes it essential.
Review: Antony and Cleopatra
This is above all Josette Simon’s play as Cleopatra, with Antony Byrne nobly matching her by the hilt of something at least. Even at a late stage, Shakespeare dissolves all our previous assumptions. This production allows us to see them plain. It’s worth the illumination.
Review: Julius Caesar
Andrew Jackson’s backgrounding of current events in his production is shrewd: by suggesting film-sets with subtle obliquity he backs us into the glare of a Trump stadium, those overarching lights playing on all of us. It’s a superb conception, in some respects outstanding; in one, definitive.
Review: The Suppliant Women
In one of the most radical productions ever mounted of Aeschylus indeed any Greek tragedy we’re literally taken to its roots: as in Greece, a community chorus of fifty, twenty-one of them the suppliant women of the play’s title. In this outstanding production, everything to resurrect this astonishing vision has been invoked.
Review: Coriolanus
It’s a Coriolanus memorable for its patient elaboration of the political as well as personal forces the central character’s torn apart by, and an active interrogation of the nature of democracy. We’re left with a broken Coriolanus between the twin pillars of what he loves most.
Review: The Kite Runner
David Ahmad’s anchoring central performance is enhanced by Jo Ben Ayed’s physical one. Theirs is a remarkable chemistry, radially informed by Doorgasingh and Faroque Khan’s reactions. It’s a potent, heartwarming and heartrending story, spellbindingly translated to the stage and here with more power even than before. Don’t miss it.
