Category: Music

A Gentleman of Leisure

There are 1,321 boys at Eton and 821 at Harrow. Of course this fluctuates as boys come and go, sometimes under a cloud. Even after allowing for the greater number of Old Etonians it is apparent that the number of fictional Old Etonians exceeds fictional Old Harrovians by a big margin.

Matinee Idle

I have never felt moved to reinvent myself but I greatly admire those who have – prime example, Plácido Domingo.

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Dancer

I have yet to hear anything good about the remake of Murder on the Orient Express but here is something interesting. Former Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, Sergei Polunin, has a cameo role playing Count Rudolph Andrenyi.

Out of this World

La Bohème at Christmas should be a sure-fire winner, impossible to muck up. Sublime music, lots of snow and children, achingly beautiful arias and a heart-rending finale.

Lucia

I went to Fulham Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor on Friday night and was bowled over by the singing and, to a lesser extent, the production.

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Two Lucias

Typical, you wait ages for a Lucia and two turn up together. You can see Lucia di Lammermoor this month at Covent Garden (top price seat £165) or at Fulham Opera (top price £25).

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Poppycock

Something really rather irritating happened on the last night of the Wexford Festival on Sunday evening. I was wearing with pride an enamel shamrock poppy and found on Monday morning that I’d lost it.

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Last Night

Risurrezione by Franco Alfano (1875–1954) has been acclaimed as this year’s Wexford hit and so the festival went out on a high note on the last night on Sunday when we saw it.

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