Wouldn't you know, Genesis begins with a viola solo. At least, Genesis the song conceived by keyboard player Shadé Joseph, vocalist Tim Faminu with Ayanna Witter-Johnson begins with a viola solo. It's one of eight pieces that Ayanna Witter-Johnson has helped put together for...
You know, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the steeple at LSO St Luke's - is it a coincidence that it was the only part of the old church to have survived more or less in one piece while the rest fell into disrepair? - is some kind of weird aerial. Since the days of...
...and as the final chord of Firebird rang out, the 80,000-strong crowd that had packed into LSO St Lukes applauded enthusiastically... Ok, so it's unlikely many of the performers tonight will ever get to play to the size of audience present at the Olympics opening ceremony....
Actually, scrub what I said before. The LSO players dotted around the LSO On Track orchestra are not really bumpers (ie reinforcements to add a bit more sound). For one thing, there's a fair amount of talent here, in every section, that make you think they could manage quite...
Since this festival is all about LSO St Luke's, and so it can feel good about itself, I'll be asking various people what their favourite thing about it is. Here's what Matthew Gibson says: "My favourite thing is to watch kids' faces as they walk into the hall. The sound...
Remember the Olympics? This lot will. We're in the main hall - the Jerwood Hall - at St Lukes now for the pre-concert rehearsal of LSO On Track. It's basically a regular symphony orchestra, but made up of youngsters of different ages from schools in the 10 east London...
There's an old recipe, probably apocryphal, that begins with the words "First catch your hare". If you're looking to develop an orchestral education department, those words might be "First renovate your derelict 18th century church." It has been 10 years since the LSO...
The dust kicked up by Stamatia Karampini's stomping Montagues and Capulets, ending yesterday's grand finale concert of the Donatella Flick competition, has finally settled. But it has to be said that it was Alexandre Bloch's performances that really brought the house down. I...
...Alexandre...
And that’s it, rehearsals over, it’s showtime. You’ll be able to hear the concert for yourselves on Classic FM at some time in the next few days (I don’t have the exact details when), assuming you haven’t actually made it to the Barbican to hear it live. Over the...
