BBC Two is bringing back classical music reality show Maestro with a new opera twist. Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood, DJ Trevor Nelson, Professor Marcus du Sautoy and comic Josie Lawrence have signed up for the three-part series, which will see them competing for the chance to perform at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The winning trainee will conduct an Act of a legendary opera with a cast of international young artists. Each celebrity will have their own personal mentor to guide them through the pitfalls and high drama of the stage. The first programme will see them challenged on the basic building block of conducting an aria. Operatic stars, conductor Sir Mark Elder, soprano Danielle de Niese and orchestral musician Dominic Seldis will judge the competitors' efforts. Great British Bake Off presenter Sue (more)...
- 2/29/2012
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
His life was as romantic and colourful as his exquisite music, yet his works are rarely performed today. Delius deserves better, writes Julian Lloyd Webber
No other composer polarises opinion like Delius. You either love or loathe his music. And it is rare to find someone who has grown to like it. Although this coming year – the 150th anniversary of his birth – will bring opportunities to reassess his work, that central fact will never change.
I feel as if I have known Delius's music forever. My father was a devotee and I must have heard all of his most famous works (On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden, La Calinda, et al) well before I started playing his cello music. I always felt instinctively attuned to Delius's unique musical language, which seemed akin to watching a painting that is slowly changing in a constantly moving canvas of sound.
No other composer polarises opinion like Delius. You either love or loathe his music. And it is rare to find someone who has grown to like it. Although this coming year – the 150th anniversary of his birth – will bring opportunities to reassess his work, that central fact will never change.
I feel as if I have known Delius's music forever. My father was a devotee and I must have heard all of his most famous works (On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden, La Calinda, et al) well before I started playing his cello music. I always felt instinctively attuned to Delius's unique musical language, which seemed akin to watching a painting that is slowly changing in a constantly moving canvas of sound.
- 1/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
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