At the edge of the edge of the United States
I was playing last night in Lewes, Delaware, at the eastern edge of the United States of America. Delaware was the first state of the Union, yet perhaps it is the least well-known to those of us who...
View ArticleThe global elite has stolen the English summer
As I wrote in the Spectator this week, the English summer and social calendar has, in recent years, been quietly – but decisively – globalised and commercialised. The rackety, amateurish, faded charms...
View ArticleDear Vivienne Westwood, may I suggest you check out James Delingpole's blog?
And so to Glyndebourne this Tuesday last for L'elisir d'amore by Donnizetti with the astonishing Danielle de Niese as Adina. I am hoping to write an orchestral song cycle for her some time, so I have...
View ArticleShould you evaluate the arts by judgment or by measurement? And do they help...
I got drawn into something odd but rather wonderful this last weekend called the Battle of Ideas – a round-the-clock discussion forum that engulfed the Royal College of Arts for two days with a...
View ArticleThe Marriage of Figaro: closer than you think
The gleeful inanity of the tabloid press was on full show this week – from the imaginary lion on the loose in Essex to the "21 bum" salute from the Army and Russell Brand's spicy new squeeze. So to the...
View ArticleFarewell to Sir George Christie: he's gone, but he'll be at Glyndebourne forever
I’ve had a few issues with Glyndebourne in recent years but never with George Christie, who ran the place as Chairman for nearly four decades – from 1958 to 2000 – and has just died. He was, I think, a...
View ArticleBehind the scenes in branding: creating a CD label for Glyndebourne
The death of Sir George Christie, creator of the modern Glyndebourne, had particular resonance for me. Eight years ago, Gilly Brierley, Glyndebourne’s then Communications Director (now Assistant...
View ArticleIs it sexist to complain about dumpy divas?
Suspension of disbelief is hard-wired in to opera as an art form. Everything is implausible, from the basic fact that everyone is singing rather than talking to those wild implausible plots full of...
View ArticleDebussy and Chopin and the orange
No two composers were more totally at home in front of the piano than Debussy and Chopin, hands to keys to strings to sound waves to pen and paper in one perfect gesture of inspiration. They both...
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