This article was written for Independent blogs. Standing at the bus stop the other day, I bumped into an acquaintance who had been working outside London for the last few years. When I asked how he liked living in Bristol, and then Liverpool, he reeled off a list of positives before saying, “but culturally, there… [Read more…]
August 28, 2011 by Culture Capital
Friday 26 August 2011 Arcola Theatre, Dalston, E8 3DL Five years in and the Grimeborn summer opera and music theatre festival in Dalston is gradually becoming part of the fabric of London’s cultural calendar. With its informal but trendy interior (lots of wood and bare brick walls), the Arcola is the perfect venue for this… [Read more…]
June 27, 2011 by Culture Capital
Over the past few years, the Royal Opera House, bastion of high culture and one of the Britain’s biggest arts organisations, has shown a knack for generating populist appeal. In 2008, Covent Garden opened its doors exclusive to readers of the Sun newspaper for the first night of its season. The tabloid even parked its… [Read more…]
June 24, 2011 by Culture Capital
London’s fringe opera scene just keeps growing. The Olivier Award-winning success of pub company OperaUpClose has spawned several similar projects, from warehouse productions to Silent Opera. So why not double-up the zeitgeist and marry together alternative opera with the current penchant for “secret” events like the successful Secret Cinema series? That’s what theatre group The… [Read more…]
June 22, 2011 by Culture Capital
Peter Grimes is arguably the finest British opera of the 20th century. Benjamin Britten’s employment of George Crabbe’s poem, about a complex and flawed outsider brought down by an oppressive East Anglian community, combines a stunningly evocative score with dramatic depth and velocity. This short run of Grimes at the Royal Opera House is a… [Read more…]
April 11, 2011 by Culture Capital
This article originally appeared on Londonist. Where do you go in London to hear opera singers performing away from the opera stage? At a Rosenblatt recital is the answer. For 10 years this concert series has presented both established artists and up-and-coming youngsters, giving audiences the chance to experience thrilling operatic highlights in a pared-down… [Read more…]
March 30, 2011 by Culture Capital
It’s been a tense morning for arts organisations across London. The results of the much-anticipated shake-up of funding were announced by Arts Council England (ACE), following cuts imposed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. ACE, which previously funded 850 arts groups across the UK, has torn up its operation and started again, introducing… [Read more…]
March 2, 2011 by Culture Capital
Wednesday 1 March 2011 45 Floral Street, London No-one said creating a new operatic hit, especially one with a contemporary subject matter, would be easy. The Royal Opera House gave it all they could with Anna Nicole, and didn’t they come close. What a show: funny, whip-crack smart and oozing with sleazy vigour. But does… [Read more…]
February 7, 2011 by Culture Capital
It is not an exaggeration to say that Anna Nicole is the most talked about opera premiere of recent times. With its simulated fellatio, Thomas Adès’s Powder her Face was more controversial, but Anna Nicole is a study of a very contemporary figure not a long-dead duchess. From any angle, the late Playboy model is… [Read more…]
December 11, 2010 by Culture Capital
It seems ironic that while there is a huge amount of culture on in the weeks before Christmas, most people are desperately trying to get their ducks in a row for the big day of consumption and don’t have the time to enjoy themselves. Also, like a high street shop store front, there is a… [Read more…]
January 23, 2012 by Culture Capital
0