This post was originally written for the Independent blogs. London’s classical music scene is changing before our eyes. Over the last five to ten years a whole host of ambitious start-ups have emerged across the capital. Ensembles like the Aurora Orchestra and the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) are stuffed with talented young players and perform… [Read more…]
January 23, 2012 by Culture Capital
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…]
December 17, 2011 by Culture Capital
A version of this blog piece was originally written for the Independent. This week on the Today programme, two well known names in classical music – Observer critic Fiona Maddocks and impresario Raymond Gubbay – discussed an article in The Economist that highlighted the resurgence of carol singing at Christmas. Their observations are spot on. Whether it is… [Read more…]
November 20, 2011 by Catherine Marks
“I don’t like jazz” is something that I hear a lot from fellow music enthusiasts who haven’t yet forayed into the world of jazz. Hearing this more and more recently, and having recently read Josh Jennings’ article ‘Rejuvenate Jazz Someone… Anyone’ on his excellent British Jazz Blog, I was prompted to put this article together.… [Read more…]
August 10, 2011 by Culture Capital
With a month to go until the winner of the 2011 Mercury Prize is announced, at least one shortlisted artist could be forgiven for not bothering to prepare a victory speech. Since its founding as an antidote to the commercialism of the Brits in 1992, the Mercury Prize has never been won by a jazz,… [Read more…]
June 15, 2011 by Culture Capital
As has been widely reported, a group of climate activists conducted a noisy protest outside the National Portrait Gallery yesterday. They were angry that BP, the bogeyman of an already unpopular industry, was the named sponsor for the gallery’s Portrait Award. The relationship between big (and bad) corporations with the arts frequently results in these… [Read more…]
March 8, 2011 by Catherine Marks
Today is the 100th International Women’s Day – celebrating the achievements of women across the world – and there are some fantastic bits and pieces going on in London as part of it. Here’s a taster of a couple of music events that should be great: International Women’s Day 100th Anniversary Concert, Cadogan Hall, Friday… [Read more…]
February 21, 2011 by Culture Capital
In the Economist this week, the columnist Schumpeter turned his/her focus to the relationship between business and the arts. Perhaps surprisingly for a business columnist at the uber-capitalists’ weekly, the article dealt with what the former can learn from the latter. Business, said Schumpeter, can learn from the presentation and selling acumen of visual artists… [Read more…]
February 23, 2012 by Culture Capital
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