Diary of a Culture Hedonist

I thought I was going to write about how Amanda Roocroft gave a fab performance of the title role Jenůfa , or how well the orchestra played the often demanding Janáček's score can be. But no, it's far more exciting telling you how - during the interval, the stage crew positioned the necessary props onto the front of the stage area, and I noticed the safety curtain was slowly coming down (often the case for safety purposes) thinking "I hope they realise the new props are in the way". Oh no, they did not. The safety curtain continued its journey and we heard a horrific ripping / crashing noise as it started to chop into the stage prop demolishing half of it like a guillotine! Those who remained in the auditorium had their jaws on the floor - and then there was nothing, nobody came out for a good 5 minutes while we all pondered what's going to happen next. Eventually, the stage hands raised the safety curtain, dragged the chopped of bits of staging in and no d...

A fairly recent phenomenon - the Frieze Art Fair in Regent's Park brought the best of contemporary art to London in mid Autumn. The big name galleries were all present - though in much smaller scale compared to Art Basel. Good presentation of what's out there - though there weren't any new or exciting direction. Apparently, it costs around US$100,000 to put a show up if you are not locally based.

Kurt Masur brings his immense knowledge and understanding of the German Romantic movement to his interpretation of Brahms A German Requiem. If you can put aside the acoustic challenges that St Paul's Cathedral imposes and minor orchestral and choral imperfections, this performance had depth and soul. Kurt Masur conductor Janice Watson soprano Alastair Miles baritone London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir