Sarah Urwin Jones Journalist, Writer, Broadcaster

The charismatic Corsican conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi may produce spirited interpretations of repertoire, but he’s also a bit of a joker when given free rein. There might have been a few rictus smiles in the orchestra by the end of this light-hearted bundle of Mozart, Rossini and Haydn — or perhaps it was delirium — but the platform (and musical) high jinks certainly delighted the packed crowd. Continue reading ››

Played out among the harbour villages of this lovely corner of Fife, this year’s East Neuk Festival, dominated by Britten, Mozart, and Schubert, seemed a rather more conventional affair than last year’s contemporary sound installations and remote rural sidetracks. But in a year dominated by the young and talented, it was in the thoughtful programming that the surprises and challenges lay. Continue reading ››

While the flavour of this year’s St Magnus Festival was decisively Polish, as venue for the closing celebrations of Polska! Year, the mid-winterish fog shrouding the low-lying mainland was majestically Orcadian. Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, opening the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Sunday night concert, seemed wildly appropriate in such ominous atmospheric conditions, approached by the conductor Martyn Brabbins with the impasto colour of an oil painter with a palette knife. Continue reading ››

Sixteen-month-old Oscar encountered his first live opera, in Scottish Opera’s Baby O project. And he liked what he heard. Continue reading ››

Taking its inspiration from the intimate, sociable gatherings of musicians who premiered and played Schubert’s music in his short lifetime, the third UK annual Schubertiad in Perth (next stop, the Highlands) might have been a little less cosy than those that Schubert led — 700 is hardly your average drawing-room capacity, even among the most moneyed of 19th-century patrons — but its wonderfully resonant concert hall and familiar line-up of quality soloists underlined that this was a weekend of music worth travelling for. Continue reading ››