Category: music

Following the huge public and critical acclaim of Madam Butterfly, Carmen, Tosca and La Bohème, Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall are thrilled to announce a brand new production of Verdi’s awe inspiring masterpiece, Aida.

For this entirely new staging, distinguished director Stephen Medcalf, with set and costumes designed by the renowned Isabella Bywater, will recreate a world of eternal love within the ruins of Ancient Egypt. Staged in-the-round, the action will unfold in the very heart of the Royal Albert Hall.

This epic work explores the devastating consequences of a classic love triangle between Aida the Ethiopian slave girl, the King’s daughter, Amneris, and Captain of the Guard, Radames. Culminating with the final entombment as the opera draws to its tragic close, this intense drama gave Verdi the perfect opportunity to compose some of his most poignant arias and powerful music.

Celeste Aida, the great tenor aria for Radames, Aida’s passionate solo Ritorna Vincitorand the beautiful final trio, O Terra Adio with the lovers trapped underground whilst Amneris laments above, are just some of the great highlights that also include the famous Triumphal Grand March.

An international cast will be accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestraconducted by Andrew Greenwood and the opera will be sung in Italian with English surtitles.

ROYAL ALBERT HALL     23 FEBRUARY – 11 MARCH

The world’s greatest music festival (The Guardian newspaper), one of the world’s most significant cultural events (the conservative Daily Mail) or simply the best party on earth (Elbow frontman shouted on the Pyramid Stage). The 41 year old Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts has unquestionably become one of the most iconic events of all time. The transformation of the quiet Somerset Worthy cow farm, run by the now legendary Michael Eavis, is quite extraordinary. It turns overnight into the third largest town in the South West of England when 177,000 people descend on the 4.5 square kilometre festival site.

With around 40,000 performers, security guards, stewards and the specialist teams working closely together to put on a spectacular show. One that sends punters into such a frenzy that at least 9 months prior to it, crowds are clambering over each other to secure their entry with a Glasto golden-ticket! For this year’s event, tickets were sold-out in under 4 hours. ‘Why such a fuss over a sing-song in a muddy field?’ some have asked me. Well my friends, this is something to be experienced and it’s not until you are actually there that you fully understand why Glastonbury pulls back the crowds year after year.

So much is happening and for every four ticket holders there is somebody working on the site: green police girls dressed up as funky cows telling people not to pee in the hedges, flamboyant clowns and risky performers in the Theatre and Circus Fields, hippy dippy massage therapists in the Healing fields, Greenpeace activists managing the sought-after solar power generated hot showers, acrobatic technicians for the maintenance of the fire spitting and artificial lightening generating Arcadia, craft activities and face painting in the Kidz Field, the creative minds behind post-apocalyptic night wonderland Shangri-la … the list of those making it happen is endless.

Thousands of people are busy just manning over 800 market stalls selling anything from wellies to fur jackets, weird carnival costumes or inflatables bananas, or simply providing the widest variety of food propositions one can imagine and beyond. Glastonbury is so much more than a mud-smudged beer-fuelled music festival featuring some A-list rock stars. Its sheer variety of artists taking part in more than 2,000 performances across 4 major stages and about 15 other large ones is impressive.

In total there are over 100 stages and performance areas. Just for the music, the variety of acts that appeal to the full cross-section of musical tastes is incredible: tribal musicians from the Solomon Islands and the Asian-infused political rap of Asian Dub Foundation, mainstream Dj Fat Boy Slim and intriguing performers on the Acoustic stage, intellectual Radiohead impromptu gig in the Park and tomorrow’s quirky bands on BBC introducing stage. It has been worked out that it would take 85 days to watch every single act at Glastonbury 2011. The BBC deployed 265 people for a coverage that lasted for twice as long as the event itself, featuring 83 radio and tv programmes, lasting a total of 144 hours. It is impossible to grasp the full scale and the tangible buzz of Glastonburyfrom the small screen. It’s perfectly possible, and this year probably necessary, to have a great time at Glasto without seeing any of the main stages or indeed any music at all.

[ in photo – Radiohead secret gig at the Park stage]

Less apparent to the TV audiences sitting comfortably at home is the great emphasis that was placed upon the promotion of environmental issues. There is a hard drive to support the work of three main charities (Water Aid, Oxfam and Greenpeace) as well as provide a platform for lively political debates and worldwide social initiatives and campaigns. The only way to experience the true vibe and general mood of the 4 day-long event is by being in the midst of it, whether baking in the morning sun or covered in mud in the pouring rain.

From the moment you walk past the ominous metal fence to be branded by with a colourful entry bracelet, you become part of an eclectic community of punters, whose mission is to have a good time. Unusual alliances are formed during the festival with Tory party officials mixing with non-profit organizations activists to City Boys sharing a wooden table and a beer with hard-core ravers.

Abuse of booze and drugs are mocked even by the local paper The Glastonbury Firelighter, after this year’s improbable attempt by the local police to analyse the bogs in search of evidence. Each festival goer has a personal line-up and a list of must-dos yet sometimes one of those famous Glastonburymoments of mass transcendence stubbornly refuses to happen. Then it is time to find refuge in the hippy Green Field playing bongos or perhaps rave the night away in the Dance village. If you don’t mind the long walk along the old railway track you are rewarded by entering the entertainment fields for a night of debauchery in the spectacularly entertaining Unfairground (the disaster zone of broken airplanes, smashed cars, mutants and freaks), the bizarre world of Shangri-la or sampling the best London sound systems in Block 9. 

[in photo – Shangri-la fish and tits]

Huge art is on display featuring a real size underground wagon landing right in a building block. As the dawn comes, after this consuming party extravaganza, a multitude of people are just happy to chill by the mystical Stone Circle and watch the sunrise over the Celtic Glastonbury Tor.

Whether is family men in pink tutus pushing a buggy with infants protected by headphones or funky mums dragged to the Beyonce gig by excited pre-adolescent kids, elderly couples comfortable sitting in their chairs sipping tea while waiting for Paul Simon on stage or rebellious school leavers running to the next hip hop act, everyone – in their own way – shares a sense of joy and celebration at Glasto. Veteran revellers seem interested in meeting new people and happily approach you for a quick chat during the performances or just in the long walks to get to one. It makes one wonder why, for the remaining 361 days of the year when Glastonbury is not on, everyone can’t just keep on being friendly and upbeat like it is the Valley of Avalon. In the words of Pulp’s frontman during their not-so-secret comeback gig “Glasto isn’t about me or you, it’s about us, in keeping with the weekend’s ‘love-one-another’ vibe. “ Glastonbury surpassed the expectations of its humble beginnings.

Never could Micheal Eavis have imagined that a Festival created to sustain his dairy farm in 1971, could captivate such vast audiences for so many years. However recently founder Michael Eavis has speculated that the festival has “probably got another three or four years” before apathy and the economy bring the 41-year-old event to an end. Eavis’ hope had been for it to continue with the same passion and mission in the caring hands of his children and grandchildren.

His dream of seeing the event grow from strength to strength now rest with the festival goers. Their prompt reaction to his claim has been to save a Festival with heritage and tradition. It is sure to be a reality as thousands of people still brandish their coloured, entry bracelets long after Glasto has finished, as if to say: I was there and I’ll be back. Glastonbury is here to stay!

How would you feel if you will be in front of an icon of the history of the music? It’s exactly what happens to you at a Fairport Convention concert. It was a much applauded performance at the Union Chapel in Highbury, London, last 19th February 2011, the London date in their Winter Tour 2011. Fairport Convention has been one of the most innovative and influential British bands of the late 1960s and 1970s and are still recording and touring today.

Recently they have been also awarded for the Cropredy Festival. The 2011 is a busy year for the group. A new album just released last January, the usual Winter Tour plenty of dates and sold out, and the just received TPi award for the Cropredy Festival. Folk rock legends Fairport Convention started their 2011 Winter Tour on Friday 28 January. This will be the band’s twenty-seventh consecutive Winter Tour and includes 32 venues throughout England and Wales. The tour started in Tewkesbury and will be finished on the next 5th March in Birmingham. The Union Chapel concert was opened by ‘Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts’ a duo that has been smashing audiences across the UK. At their second album ‘Katriona & Jamie’ have their own peculiar sound prop up by a lap- tapping guitar and fiddle scorching techniques. Fairport Convention called them back on stage to play all together the closing piece of the concert. The Fairport Convention gig included brand new songs from their last album “Festival Bell”. Released to coincide with the 2011 tour, “Festival Bell” is the first new Fairport Convention studio album for four years. The Winter Tour 2011 concerts are split in two parts.

The first one celebrates the fortieth anniversary of “Babbacombe Lee”, the band’s critically acclaimed 1971 folk rock opera that is played in its whole. This album was telling the captivating true story of John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee, a Victorian criminal who was reprieved after three failed attempts to hang him. The second part, it’s mostly a selection from the new album fourteen tracks (which include compositions by members of the band, two songs by renowned singer-songwriter Ralph McTell and a reworking of the Sandy Denny classic ‘Rising for the Moon’). “We’re really looking forward to getting on the road again”, says Simon Nicol, Fairport founder-member. “This year, our Winter Tour concerts will be rather different – not only have we got a whole album’s worth of new material to choose from but this will be the first time we’ve played the whole of ‘Babbacombe Lee’ since the 1970s.” Other great satisfaction arrives to Fairport Convention for hosting their most acclaimed Cropredy Festival that recently has won the desirable TPi industry award staged in London on the evening of the 7th February 2011. Cropredy Festival director Gareth Williams collected the coveted Editor’s Award on behalf of Fairport Convention. Gareth Williams says: “Fairport’s festival at Cropredy has been staged for over 30 years and for much of that time has remained relatively unnoticed by the music industry. Or so we thought. We are all truly touched by this recognition by our peers in the industry and we want to thank Mark Cunningham for the accolade of the TPi Editor’s Award.”

Fairport Convention members could not attend the TPi Awards because currently on tour. However, they were able to thank the 1,000 guests at the awards ceremony by video on the event’s big screen. Dave Pegg said: “Cropredy is the highlight of our year so it’s an honour and a delight for us to get this award. I’d like to thank all the festival staff down the years, Gareth Williams who’s holding the fort for us tonight, Simon Nicol, the rest of the band and all the loyal fans who come every year and make the event such a success.

Thank you all.” The annual Total Production International Awards event has, since 2002, become regarded throughout the world as the premier networking event for the live production industry. It honours not only the Live Production Of The Year, but also some of the most talented sound engineers, lighting and show designers, video creatives and tour/production managers to name but a few. Fairport Convention formed in 1967.

Their influential album ‘Liege and Lief’ (1969) is generally considered to have launched the electric folk or English folk rock movement, helping in awaken much wider interest in traditional music. Since 1979 they have hosted the Cropredy Festival, which is the largest such annual event in England. Located adjacent to Cropredy village, five miles north of Banbury, Fairport’s Cropredy Convention Festival presents three days of rock, pop and acoustic music in Oxfordshire countryside. Individually and collectively the members of Fairport Conventionhave received numerous awards recognizing their contribution to music and culture. The current line -up is: Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders, Chris Leslie, and Gerry Conway.

read more :

• Fairport Convention, the birth of folk rock music.
• Chris Leslie, interviewing a Fairport Convention member.

 The Italian Cultural Institute hosted an evening of classical music inviting the Ars Trio di Roma, in London for a London concert at its residence in Belgrave Square. This Trio, formed by pianist Laura Pietrocini, violinist Marco Fiorentini and cellist Valeriano Taddeo, has been established in 2001 and since then it rejoiced with a string of successes and it has been awarded several prizes and performed at international theatres, always with an enthusiastic audience.

Considering the Italian classical music scene, the members of the Ars Trio di Roma are quite young and often they play contemporary classical music. This evening they’ve delighted the public in London who, despite the chilli weather came for this Chamber Music Concert to know this very fine musical group, with “Trio in re min. Op.49” by Mendelssohn and “Trio op.67 no.2” by Shostakovich.

The Ars Trio di Roma played in London concert honouring the Italian Cultural Institute, with their debut in Great Britain. During the performance it has been a pleasure to notice that they were living their music, like acting with their expressions and movements while playing masterfully their instruments.

At the end of the evening a strong applause from the audience rewarded the Ars Trio di Roma, with the hope that they will be back in London in the next future for a longer performance, so to enjoy their music and their charisma on stage.

photo: cristina polizzi italoeuropeo.com

Jan 27th – Italian Cultural Institute in London
 New jazz star Gianluca Pellerito lands in the United Kingdom for one of the most exclusive events on the international music scene: the London Jazz Party 2011.

The Italian Cultural Institute in London at 39 Belgrave Square, in the very heart of the capital, invited the talented drummer who will perform on 27th of January. After two successful tours in Washington and New York, Gianluca and his drumsticks are ready to impress London audiences together with his quartet, composed by Michael Eckroth (piano), Marco Panascia (Double Bass) e Michael Rosen (sax). “Gianluca is such an incredibly talented young artist – Carlo Presenti, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London, says – and we want to be the first to present him to the British connoisseurs. His studies began when he was only four years old. He later trained at the prestigious Berkley College of Music. Undoubtedly a bright future is ahead of him, and despite being only a teen he has already played with the most important jazz musicians in the world”. 
The brilliant drummer is only 16 years old but is already an international jazz star who played with Peter Erskine, Alex Acuna Richard Emil, which define Gianluca “an exceptional reality of the jazz of the third millennium”.

Gianluca was 8 years when he took part in Umbria Jazz as a component of the ensemble of the Berkley Summer School. He performed numerous concerts around the world before arriving in the States where he played at the Kennedy Center in Washington. No Italian of his age had ever been able to play one of the most prestigious stages in the world.
“I’m so excited – Gianluca Pellerito says – but also happy to play my music in a place where there is one of most competent audience in the world. I always say that my way of making music is born from the desire to have fun, I’m a guy who lives the sensations typical of my age. In my project “Jazz My Way” I blend jazz, funk, Latin, the groove, the sound, the desire to share the stage with my friends. And I like watching the faces of the audience that has fun, it’s fantastic”. 
But there will be not only music to represent Italy at London Jazz Party. The dinner that will follow the concert will be signed by the famous chef Pino Ragona.