| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 21-May-2013 Grand Théâtre | Old worlds and new: Jordi Savall with Hespèrion XXI and Tembembe Ensamble Continuo in Bordeaux |
 This concert marked the beginning of Jordi Savall’s week-long residency at the Auditorium de Bordeaux. The purpose of the concert was to take music from the ancient world and combine it with music from the new world. The works demonstrated the difference between the European influence and Latin American influences. Early folias, antiguas and criollas were performed by the eight musicians on stage, led by Savall on the viola da gamba.Read full review... | |
| 14-May-2013 St George's Bristol | An evening to remember at St George's Bristol: Philip Glass at the piano |
 From the moment I found out that Philip Glass was going to be playing at St George’s Bristol for his only completely solo performance in Britain this year, I knew it was bound to be a special event. I arrived at the venue to see people waiting patiently and hoping for returns at the box office – the hall was packed to maximum capacity with extra seating at the back. The stage setting was simple, and consisted of purple uplighting, a grand piano, a stool and a microphone. This more casual concert setting allowed for a more genuine approach to listening to Glass’ music.
Read full review... | |
| 3-May-2013 Colston Hall | Bach meets Fats Waller: Nigel Kennedy at Colston Hall, Bristol |
 The ever-eccentric Nigel Kennedy entered on stage in trainers, combat trousers, a pirate shirt with a shiny black jacket, and his staple punk hairstyle. Dressed as a rebel, his cheeky-chap persona grabbed the attention of the audience at Colston Hall for a night of Bach and Fats Waller in one.
Read full review... | |
| 21-Apr-2013 The Armstrong Hall Complex | Première of Rouse Ye Women at the Thornbury Arts Festival is a sell-out production |
 The sold-out première of Rouse ye Women told the story of the chain-making women in the Black Country in 1910. The story of how the chain-makers’ strike led to the implementation of the minimum wage in Britain, is told through a cast of six female singers who use a dynamic mixture of scored music and choreographed movement. This hour-long performance at the Amstrong Hall was part of the Thornbury Arts Festival, given by new music theatre company And Then We Danced.
Read full review... | |
| 19-Apr-2013 St George's Bristol | The Smith Quartet play Philip Glass at St George's Bristol |
 Five string quartets performed by four musicians – each musician with an intricate understanding of the world of new music. The Smith Quartet are well established as being the modern music quartet to hear in the United Kingdom – having commissioned over 200 new works and working with the likes of Reich, Nyman and Glass – if you are a fan of minimalism. This concert embraced Philip Glass’ development in compositional style, from the mid 1960s to the early 1990s, through the medium of string quartets.
Read full review... | |
| 12-Apr-2013 Colston Hall | Natalia Lomeiko plays Tchaikovsky with the Bristol Ensemble at Colston Hall |
 Benedetti’s Beethoven was changed, at late notice, to Lomeiko’s Tchaikovsky. Sadly, the renowned violinist Nicola Benedetti was not able to make the performance, but her replacement was wonderful. Internationally established Russian violinist and professor at the Royal College of Music, Natalia Lomeiko stepped up to play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major instead of Beethoven’s concerto. Especially considering this was an incredibly last-minute replacement, it was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening.
Read full review... | |
| 3-Apr-2013 Colston Hall | Paavo Järvi, Lisa Batiashvili and the Philharmonia Orchestra at Colston Hall |
 What a night. The conductor, Paavo Järvi, made the evening’s performance riveting, with a modest yet heartfelt performance. There were no egos on the stage, just unpretentious and pure classical music. The programme was three works long: two symphonies either side of a violin concerto. All three works were completely separate in quality and style, which allowed the evening to be diverse and exciting. The Philharmonia Orchestra added more instrumentalists to the stage for each piece, so the next work always felt bigger.
Read full review... | |
| 15-Mar-2013 St George's Bristol | The Imperfect Pearl: Mark Latimer stages Domenico Zipoli's life and works at St George's Bristol |
| On hearing about the concept of Mark Latimer’s The Imperfect Pearl or Perola Barroca, I wasn’t sure what to expect. This UK première told the tale and music history of Baroque composer Domenico Zipoli in a two-and-a-half-hour show. An open mind was certainly necessary for this Baroque musical fairytale. I walked into the venue to see a piano and music stands on the left of the stage, a huge grey panel that looked like a giant wall in the middle, with a large pile of wooden trunks and a homemade harpsichord with papers on as part of the set on the right of the stage.
Read full review... | |
| 12-Mar-2013 Colston Hall | Perfect percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Bristol Ensemble at Colston Hall |
 Beethoven did not take precedence in this concert, but he stole the title. As part of the “Brilliant Beethoven” concert series, the Bristol Ensemble performed the Seventh Symphony of the well-known composer. It was programmed at the end of the evening alongside Debussy, Vivaldi and current composer Alexis Alrich. The theme connecting the different works was rhythm. A prelude, two concertos and a symphony later, Colston Hall was near to having its audience tap-dancing – well, at least on my row. The last three pieces of the evening were competitively catchy.
Read full review... | |
| 24-Feb-2013 Colston Hall | Sublime Mahler and Penderecki: The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bristol |
 What a concert – the programme and the musicans were sublime. This time, Colston Hall got it spot on with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Seeing all of the credits for the orchestra in the back of the programme prepared me for a big and bold sound that was just short of 100 musicians. Each and every one of them contributed to a fantastic sound under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk.
Read full review... | |
| 21-Feb-2013 St George's Bristol | The Badke Quartet play Haydn and Britten |
 Freezing lunchtime weather made the golden uplighting on the stage a particularly welcome sight. The Badke Quartet played two pieces in this hour-long programme: Haydn’s Quartet in D major Op. 20 no. 4,, and Britten’s Quartet no. 3. To celebrate the Britten centenary, the Badke Quartet explained that they plan to play their way through all three of Britten’s string quartets during the course of the year.
Read full review... | |
| 13-Feb-2013 St Paul's Church | Contemporary Music Venture at St Paul's Church, Bristol |
 There was no doubt that for this concert, one had to enter the front door with a completely open mind. The aim of the Contemporary Music Venture is to promote contemporary music to a wider audience, in an hour and for free – an honourable challenge.
Read full review... | |
| 29-Jan-2013 St George's Bristol | Beethoven explained: Matthew Barley and Reinis Zarins at St George's Bristol |
 Two musicians, pianist and cellist, entered on stage and started playing. After three or four minutes, the cellist stood up and spoke: “Thought that I had forgotten to talk, didn’t you?”
Read full review... | |
| 27-Jan-2013 St George's Bristol | The Sitkovetsky Piano Trio play Brahms and Smetana at St George's Bristol |
 This concert was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. It was the first of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio’s coffee-morning concerts – “Coffee Classics” – in which they gave a passion-fuelled performance of Brahms’ Piano Trio no. 2 in C major, and Smetena’s Piano Trio in G minor. As a piano trio, the three have won many awards, and quite rightly so, as their presence on stage is collectively brilliant. St George’s as a venue in Bristol often astounds with the talent that walks on to the stage.Read full review... | |
| 22-Dec-2012 Colston Hall | A Christmassy oratorio: Handel's Messiah at Colston Hall, Bristol |
| Many people have triggers to make them feel seasonal, and this evening’s concert was no doubt a source for many audience members. Festive cheer spread around Bristol’s Colston Hall for an evening of joyous music celebrating the Christmas story with Handel’s Messiah. We have to thank librettist Charles Jennens for giving Handel the inspiration to write such powerful and emotive music as this epic piece, written in just 24 days. Christmas in the classical music world would not be complete without the well-known Hallelujah Chorus or “For unto us a child is born”. Read full review... | |
| 2-Dec-2012 St George's Bristol | A brand new orchestra: The Enigma Orchestra at St George's Bristol |
| A brand new orchestra took to the stage on Sunday night to introduce themselves. The Enigma Orchestra, co-founded this year by Robert Weaver and Arian Aghababaie, is made up of high-standard amateur instrumentalists from in and around Bristol. The orchestral team had coordinated all the visual aspects of the concert with a theme of white, red and black. Everything matched, from the programmes to the red uplights and the red and black flower brooches adorning the female performers.
Read full review... | |
| 14-Nov-2012 Colston Hall | Tchetuev, Förster and the Prague Symphony Orchestra at Colston Hall, Bristol |
 For this concert the Prague Symphony Orchestra brought their classical music heritage overseas to Colston Hall. The programme gave us a taste of composers close to the orchestra’s homeland, providing a delightful evening of luxury – in music and in dress code. Members of the orchestra were attired in white tie and tails for the men and full-length black for the ladies, elegant and with an air of grandeur that suited the nature of the large orchestral works they were to perform.
Read full review... | |
| 3-Nov-2012 St George's Bristol | Bristol Opera's Fidelio at St George's Bristol |
| Turning his long-awaited aspiration into reality, musical director of Bristol Opera Arne Kovac conducted his favourite opera in concert in order to celebrate his 40th birthday. Beethoven’s masterpiece Fidelio is his only venture into opera and tells a story of love, happy marriage and freedom, complete with happy ending.
Read full review... | |
| 14-Oct-2012 Colston Hall | Gabetta, Sinaisky and the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Colston Hall |
 A sunny Sunday afternoon at Colston Hall marked the return of the London Philharmonic Orchestra to Bristol after over a decade away. The orchestra played alongside Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta for a moving performance of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor. This was accompanied on either side by Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 1 and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony no. 2.
Read full review... | |
| 6-Oct-2012 St George's Bristol | British in Bristol: Stephen Hough and Bristol Classical Players at St George's |
 Two encores, a virtuoso and a cracking orchestra. This concert truly celebrated the best of British music and musicians, as the first concert in St George’s “Best of British” concert season. The scene was set with an array of red, white and blue amongst the orchestra in several forms: bow ties, flags, ribbons and other accessories. The stage was built forward for this occasion with an impressively large group of instrumentalists for the Bristol Classical Players surrounding a grand piano for the internationally renowned pianist Stephen Hough.Read full review... | |
| 29-Sep-2012 St George's Bristol | St Michael's Chorus and Orchestra at St George's Bristol sing the B minor Mass |
| This charity concert (supporting the Cots for Tots appeal) filled St George’s Bristol with the sound of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor. There was passion in the performance of the St Michael’s orchestra and chorus, which was made up of a combination of doctors and volunteers. Had I not had a programme for the concert, I would have happily thought that this was a group of professional players and singers. They tackled the mass with relative ease and clearly put a lot of effort in to their performance, which made it burst at the seams with energy.
Read full review... | |
| 26-Sep-2012 St George's Bristol | Ad Parnassum and L'Offerta Musicale di Venezia: Dido and Aeneas |
 Ad Parnassum and L’Offerta Musicale di Venezia’s interpretation of Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas was original and engaging, combining the traditional elements of music, singing and drama with dance and props.
Read full review... | |
| 27-Aug-2012 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 59: The Broadway Sound with the John Wilson Orchestra |
 On entering Door One at the Royal Albert Hall and seeing top hats, tails and tap shoes clustered in a doorway, it was time to prepare for an evening of ‘The Broadway Sound’. Given the stature of the internationally renowned John Wilson and his handpicked orchestra, they were undoubtedly going to impress in a live performance – and sure enough, an opening of sweeping strings intermittently punctuated with punchy brass chords blew the audience across the Atlantic to the Broadway stage in Gershwin’s Overture to Funny Face, which opened the concert.
Read full review... | |
| 13-Jul-2012 Cheltenham Town Hall | Three Pieces from 1918 at the Cheltenham Music Festival |
 Red, white and blue bunting, with matching lighting, adorned the balconies of Cheltenham Town Hall, setting a patriotic scene for a concert of music from the year that World War I ended. Television presenter Julia Somerville opened the evening sat at a vintage newsdesk with her own careful research, for which she can be highly commended. She was followed by a number of well-known soloists including Katherine Gowers and Steven Isserlis for an exciting programme of works composed in 1918.
Read full review... | |
| 11-Jul-2012 Pittville Pump Room | Back to 1915: Kraggerud, Isserlis and more at the Cheltenham Music Festival |
 The concert opened with BBC newsreader Julia Somerville, summarising news from the year 1915 at an old-fashioned broadcasting desk complete with microphone. It was informative, and set the scene for this recital, one in a series of ‘time capsule’ concerts, solely featuring music composed in 1915 – including two of Debussy’s last chamber pieces.
Read full review... | |
| 8-Jul-2012 Pittville Pump Room | British Quartets: The Castalian Quartet at the Cheltenham Music Festival |
 This Cheltenham Festival concert featured three British string quartets by Hugh Wood, Michael Nyman and Giles Swayne. Swayne and Wood were both present at the concert and gave an introductory talk providing context for their works. Swayne said in the talk that ‘music should be unpredictable to keep the listener interested’. And appropriately, although we knew the programme for the evening, the pieces by Wood and Swayne are not frequently performed and therefore added a feel of the unknown and the new. This was by no means an easy listening concert, but nor was it unpleasant.Read full review... | |
| 6-Jul-2012 Pittville Pump Room | Debussy in a Different Light: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at the Cheltenham Music Festival |
 To perform so many of Debussy’s works in one sitting requires a certain amount of skill and understanding. The charismatic pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet opened our eyes to the impressionistic world of Claude Debussy in this special three-part concert for the Cheltenham Music Festival. The programme, entitled ‘The Essential Debussy’, was designed by Bavouzet to explore Debussy’s relationship with the piano and cover many of his major compositions, in a meticulous order and grouping.Read full review... | |
| 5-Jul-2012 Cheltenham College Chapel | Première after Première: BBC Singers at the Cheltenham Festival |
 In most concert listings, premières seem to be thrown in as a one-off to offset a relatively risk-free billing. In this Cheltenham Music Festival concert, this was not the case. With no less than five premières in an evening of seven choral works, those present could be assured that they were hearing something new. The programme choice was engaging and enlightening, giving insight on different ways that the human voice can be used as an instrument.
Read full review... | |
| 15-Jun-2012 St George's Bristol | Opera Project's The Barber of Seville in Bristol |
| A classic opera, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville was displayed in a new light by Opera Project this Friday. The easygoing plot of this 19th-century rom-com never tires when given a fresh edge, despite being so frequently performed. Taken out of the context of an opera house and downscaled, this Barber of Seville came to life in an intimate setting with some new words. The production featured a witty and original translation by founder, director and designer Richard Studer, ending with the line “It’s all turned out alright”. Indeed it did. Read full review... | |
| 8-Jun-2012 St George's Bristol | Sensational Schubert: Paul Lewis and Mark Padmore in Bristol |
| A small audience had the honour of two big names on stage and enthusiasts of Schubert would agree that there were no two bigger names to have performed the evening's programme than Paul Lewis and Mark Padmore. They gave an intimate chamber performance of songs by Beethoven and Schubert, received with calls of “Bravo!” and whistles.
Read full review... | |
| 29-May-2012 Colston Hall | More Please: Ashkenazy, Tsujii and Philharmonia Orchestra in Bristol |
 On a stiflingly hot evening, a packed Colston Hall was met with an energetic conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy, springing to the middle of the stage. Before the audience hushed, Berlioz’s Overture to Béatrice et Bénédict swirled around the room. Light-hearted, breezy and full of optimism, it made a great opening piece to the night’s programme. Béatrice et Bénédict, an ‘opera-comique’, was Berlioz’s last opera, inspired by Shakespeare’s play Much Ado about Nothing.
Read full review... | |
| 17-May-2012 St George's Bristol | Take it in: Takács Quartet wow the crowd at St George's Bristol |
 C Peter Smith.jpg) A full house at St George’s was spoilt with some seriously fantastic music in this concert. String quartets don’t come much better than the Takács Quartet. Versatile, passionate, and technically very accurate, there was a real quality of care that went into their performance. They had their ears close to their instruments, to tune in to every note, to give the audience the best sound possible. As a result, the music felt selfless and as though it was being offered to everyone in the room for their own personal listening.Read full review... | |
| 4-May-2012 St George's Bristol | Isserlis, Faust, Levin and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Bristol |
 The night had a programme of three soloists, three pieces and three significant composers in music history – Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The concept of the concert was to display a span of music from the high Classical era to the early Romantic, where each of the composers overlap in style through three generations. Haydn was known for establishing the symphony, and so we heard his ‘London Symphony’, no. 104, which is the last symphony of twelve that he wrote late in his life over two visits to England.Read full review... | |
| 26-Apr-2012 St George's Bristol | Hidden Haydn: Soloists from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment |
.jpg) Short, but nonetheless entertaining, the lunchtime series at St George’s, Bristol put on a show with the final of their Hidden Haydn concerts. The programme was designed to explore the lost and less frequently played works of Franz Joseph Haydn (1832-1809), with a couple of treats from less well-known composers thrown in. The hour started with a trio for flute, violin and cello, and cleverly finished with another work for the same instruments, echoing the sonata form for which Haydn was so well known.
Read full review... | |
| 20-Apr-2012 St George's Bristol | Julian Lloyd Webber and the EU Chamber Orchestra at St George's, Bristol |
 The European Union is not something one would normally expect to be associated with music, but their chamber orchestra is exceptional. Formed in 1981, they now have a worldwide reputation as musical ambassadors. Opening an evening of style and grace at St George’s, Bristol with Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, the orchestra gave an air of confidence. Not only were they incredibly unified, but they had a cheery disposition on stage; smiling and connecting with each other through the music.Read full review... | |
| 19-Apr-2012 Colston Hall | BSO Brave Burana: The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at The Colston Hall |
 If ever a concert could be described as a firework, this was it. The stage was ignited with music and we waited for the best bit - that crucial, beautiful explosion of colour. As part of the Colston Hall’s International Classical Season, The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performed the iconic choral work Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (1895-1982). Joining them on stage were the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Known chiefly now in Britain as the opening music for the TV programme 'The X Factor', Carmina Burana is full of impact and oomph especially when it is heard live.Read full review... | |
| 9-Mar-2012 St George's Bristol | Sounds of Schubert: Pianist Paul Lewis at St George's Bristol |
 Concerts which are dedicated to one composer are becoming all the more frequent, and it is fantastic to hear a pianist as renowned as Paul Lewis devoting an entire tour to the works of Franz Schubert. It is fair to say that Lewis gave the audience at St George’s his all. An extraordinary performer, Paul Lewis has an international reputation as one of the leading pianists of his generation worldwide. His sensitive touch on the keys enabled the listener to hear each and every note placed with thought and imagination, making a unique interpretation of each of the works.
Read full review... | |
| 25-Feb-2012 St George's Bristol | Singing the London Underground: The Exultate Singers at St George's |
 A celebration of London with a tube map as a programme. What better way to celebrate 2012 and the coming of the Olympics? From Thomas Tallis’ Spem in Alium to Lionel Bart’s ‘Who Will Buy?’ from Oliver!, the night’s performance was not short of variety.
Read full review... | |
| 14-Feb-2012 St George's Bristol | Love for the Piano: Freddy Kempf at St George’s Bristol |
 Love was definitely in the air at Freddy Kempf’s St. Valentine’s Day Concert. He gave a passion-filled performance of Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor, Op. 13, ‘Pathétique’ to open the night, which was fitting with the nature of the title. The true ‘Pathétique’ should have passionate expression that should be felt by the heart and transcend mere variations in tempo. Kempf mastered all three movements and what was so important was that he was not afraid to use silence for effect in the music.Read full review... | |
| 26-Jan-2012 St George's Bristol | Cigleris and Cousin impress at St George's Bristol |
 Clarinetist Peter Cigleris teamed up with pianist Martin Cousin for a wonderful lunchtime break. Peter Cigleris studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music, and has performed in many venues across Europe premièring several new works for the clarinet. With a tone and technical ability to impress, he performed on a Peter Eaton Elite clarinet made for him in 2001. Martin Cousin is regarded as one of the most exceptional pianists of his generation and has appeared regularly in major British music venues since graduating from the Royal College of Music.Read full review... | |
| 18-Jan-2012 Colston Hall | Nigel Kennedy rewrites Vivaldi at the Colston Hall |
 A brave choice of programme this Wednesday matched the personality of the leather-clad Nigel Kennedy. This included a new self-penned composition, The Four Elements and a unique interpretation – drastically different from Kennedy’s interpretation in the late eighties – of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Read full review... | |
| 8-Dec-2011 St George's Bristol | András Schiff performs, conducts and plays with the Oxford Philomusica |
 Standing ovation after standing ovation. The packed hall at St George’s received a treat in form of an evening of Haydn played by fantastic musicians. The stage was filled with energy from start to end in a programme, from the Oxford Philomusica’s ‘Best of Haydn’ series, which displayed a variety of Joseph Haydn’s works. Haydn (1732-1809) is recognised as the ‘father’ of the symphony and occupied a pivotal role in the history of the piano sonata. How better to pay homage to him than to perform some of his major piano works and finish it all off with a symphony?
Read full review... | |
| 7-Dec-2011 St George's Bristol | The Gould Piano Trio bring Beethoven to life |
 Three is the magic number. The animated and dynamic Gould Piano Trio took to the stage and delighted the audience with three piano trios by Beethoven. The concert was the second of an exciting quartet of concerts, ‘The Beethoven Trios Series’, which are part of the Gould Piano Trio’s 20th Anniversary Year celebrations. Lucy Gould has commented that she hoped to keep their performances ‘alive and invigorating’, and this evening certainly was.Read full review... | |
| 7-Nov-2011 St George's Bristol | The Polish Radio Choir celebrate Górecki’s Life |
 Simplicity is beautiful. The one year anniversary of Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Górecki’s death could not have been greeted with more of a celebration of his life than through the Polish Radio Choir’s UK tour of his choral works. Who better to pay their respects than the Polish Radio Choir who premiered several of his pieces and worked with him for many years?Read full review... | |
