Shivkumar Sharma in concert

The Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Smriti Sangeet Samaroha opened at the Kala Academy indoor auditorium this evening.
To the uninitiated, this is a 3 day festival showcasing Indian classical music and dance. The festival is held annually in memory of that great daughter of Goa, Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar.
I got there in time to hear Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, [...]

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Sir Willard White

A tribute to Paul Robeson
 The concert venue was  the Queen’s Hall (The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe) on 7th February 2008.
 I had known of Robeson’s singing career, but only recently begun to learn of his role as a civil rights campaigner, which meant just as much to him. To have his life celebrated by no less [...]

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Barenboim at the RFH – a review

Daniel Barenboim’s Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle at the Royal Festival Hall is currently the talk of the musical world, and certainly the hot ticket of the season. So when I found a single seat still available in the back row, on 6 February, I thanked my stars and grabbed it.
Sonata no. 5 in  C minor, [...]

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Perlman at the Barbican

Itzhak Perlman, violin
Bruno Canino, piano
Schubert: Rondo brilliant in B minor
Beethoven: ‘Spring’ Sonata
Richard Strauss: Sonata in E flat major
Encore pieces (at least 5 or 6 of them)
We were privileged to hear Itzhak Perlman play yesterday.
The Schubert was exquisitely played. I have heard it played before, but Perlman made it his own. It always amazes me to [...]

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Classical Music : The unheard violinist

Recalling a master never recorded in his prime
Berlioz fawned over Joachim, calling him “so brilliant, and so pure.” (w. and d. downey/getty images)
By Jeremy Eichler, Globe Staff | August 5, 2007
Composers of any era can be immortalized through their scores, but posterity is not as kind to performers who lived before the advent of recordings. [...]

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Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007): an obituary and a tribute

by Dr. Luis Dias
On 27 April 2007 came the sad news from Moscow that one of the brightest luminaries of the music world, Mstislav Rostropovich, had passed away at the age of 80 after a battle with intestinal cancer.
I had the good fortune to play for this great man in Goa, India, at a masterclass [...]

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