Category: Music
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My First time at a French Festival
I’m currently on the train to Paris from Montpellier, zooming across the vast landscapes of southern France, after having spent a magical three days at the beautiful village of Lunel-Viel near Montpellier, performing at the “Un Piano Sous Les Arbes” Festival. Not only was this my first time performing at a summer festival, it was…
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Iván Fischer and his Grand Budapest Festival Orchestra at Proms
The Budapest Festival Orchestra gave a tremendous performance of Beethoven and Bartók to an absolutely packed Royal Albert Hall last night. The air sizzled with their electrifying energy and their boundless eagerness to share music captured everyone from the standing arena to the top gallery. I had heard Iván and the BFO a few years…
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Yunchan Lim owning Rach 4 at BBC Proms
There is a reason why Yunchan Lim is currently one of the hottest young pianists on the classical scene and tonight at the Royal Albert Hall he has once again proven with an incredible performance of Rachmaninov’s 4th Concerto why he deserves such a stellar reputation. The energetic Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham…
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The Fidelio Collective Debuts at Fidelio Café
The Fidelio Collective made its successful debut yesterday evening at a packed Fidelio Café in Clerkenwell. As commuters swarmed towards Farringdon station on a cool summer evening in London, I gingerly picked my way against the tide and ducked into Fidelio Café, bang in the centre of Clerkenwell Road commanding an open view on that…
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Enchanting Kantorow at the Proms
On Friday I finally had the chance to see Alexandre Kantorow, a pianist who is only gone on to scale higher and higher heights since his magnificent win at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to be the only one to think that, because not only were the sitting tickets sold out, the…
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Sophia Lim plays Godowsky’s complete Java Suite
Leopold Godowsky’s Java Suite is a monumental work made up of four parts. The individual parts are not programmed often–I certainly have never come across them in recitals–not to mention the work in its entirety. Despite being published in 1925, it wasn’t until 2000 that the work received its first complete recording. So it was…
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Beneath the surface: Lugansky’s Rach 3
Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto. The pinnacle of pianism. The king of concertos. A name that was once an Everest for worthy pianists but now is a regular feature in concert halls, perhaps even more so in competitions. This concerto is so familiar, especially to pianists like me, that one already has certain expectations of how they…
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Artist Diploma Final Recital Programme Notes
For my Artist Diploma graduation recital, the summation of five years of intensive study at the Guildhall School, I have chosen a programme which presents passion in many different aspects. Programme: Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025) Chaconne César Franck (1822-1890) Prelude, Chorale and Fugue Manuel De Falla (1876-1946) Fantasia Baetica Interval Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Piano Sonata No.…
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Bavouzet’s Ravel-athon: storm and drama at Wigmore Hall
2025 marks the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth (also the 100th anniversary of Satie’s death but that’s just an excuse for a handful of pianists to break World Records by performing his “Vexations”) and somehow his complete oeuvre for solo piano manage to fit into an extended solo recital, so a select few pianists have…
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Creative Minds in Song and Michał Kawecki‘s “My Child”: Telling stories with music
Music has, in some ways, always been a kind of storytelling but at times it becomes a crucial way of sharing real life stories of struggle and healing, a creative outlet of de-stigmatising certain experiences, the oil to lubricate the wheels of social change. I attended the 10-year celebration concert of Creative Minds in Song…
Literally Left-handed 