Reviews

Out of Dresden, BSO at Poole Lighthouse

Wagner: Lohengrin: Prelude to Act I Schumann: Cello Concerto Wagner: Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III Schumann: Symphony No. 3 ‘Rhenish’ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amyn Merchant Kirill Karabits conductor Steven Isserlis cello     NO love was lost between Wagner and Schumann, who both found themselves in Dresden in 1849.  Broadly, Wagner was the revolutionary…

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Shining at the Chine Hotel, AUB

TAKE a closed, out-of-season hotel, a classic horror story, one of the world’s most exciting directors and a group of adventurous and multi-talented students and you are guaranteed an immersive theatre experience. Yes, immersive experiences are a bit of cliche in contemporary theatre but this was the real deal. We were swept into the increasingly…

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Tallis Scholars: The German Tradition at Bath Assembly Rooms

THE internationally acclaimed Tallis scholars under their director Peter Phillips were on top form last night when they performed to a capacity audience at the Assembly Rooms as part of this year’s Bath Bachfest. In an interesting and well-balanced programme of mostly relatively short pieces, they traced and celebrated the development of German church music,…

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The Addams Family, CATS at Ansford School

LOVE is at the heart the musical version of The Addams Family, and if the famously gruesome family has a message it is a sentimental song of family values and romance. It’s also a hilarious romp peopled by the undead forebears of the legendary Gomez and Morticia, set in their creepy mansion in central park…

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Radulović returns

Bartók: Dance Suite, Barber: Violin Concerto, Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amyn Merchant Kirill Karabits: Conductor Nemanja Radulović: Violin THIS concert of 20th-century music saw a deepening of the love affair between the Lighthouse audience and the BSO’s charismatic artist in residence, Serbian violin virtuoso Nemanja Radulović. With his huge barely-controlled afro,…

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The Miser, Bath Theatre Royal

TWO of the country’s best loved comedians, Griff Rhys Jones and Lee Mack, are starring in a free – very free – adaptation of Moliere’s The Miser, at Bath, Richmond and then at the Garrick in London. And the cast of Sean Foley’s production also includes a handful of others better known for comedy than…

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Concerts in the West, Matthew Drinkwater, piano, Ilminster Meeting House

MATTHEW’s short tour of the South West resulted in a wonderful series of concerts, by a pianist who engages his audience by the dynamism of his playing and by his intense musicality. Not every player should open a recital with a sonata by Mozart, but Matthew, by exquisite phrasing and positive delivery was totally convincing…

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Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, SNADS at The Exchange, Sturminster Newton

ONCE upon a time … pantomime had a pretty straightforward formula – wicked fairy/demon (enter/exit stage left), good fairy (enter/exit stage right), principal boy hero, principal girl (usually our hero’s social superior), evil baron/squire, murderous step-mother, knockabout comics (usually sidekicks to the villain) and plenty of village people (no connection to well-known gay singing group)….

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