Trio Sōra's recital at St John’s Smith Square on 16th November 2017 marked the start of their UK tour with eclectic performances of Haydn, Kagel and Chausson. The 2017 Parkhouse Award winners are three female musicians who met during their studies at the Paris Conservatoire and are set to take over much of the UK classical …
Continue reading REVIEW: Trio Sōra at St John’s Smith Square
Saturday 13th January was my first experience of the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. One thing and another sadly prevented me from hearing the first half of the concert's Genesis Suite, but luckily arrived in time to hear the incomparable Concerto for Orchestra by the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok. I …
Continue reading Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra- A Poetic Response
Having started the cello much later to most other musicians, I found myself battling the fear of performing at the same time as facing an insecure self-image that often comes with being a 12 year old. I believe this made the issue far greater than it would've been, had I been performing at an earlier …
Strings are to a musician like ballet shoes are to a dancer. Just as each dancer is very different and requires different size and softness of shoes, every cello is vastly different and requires different strings to compliment the resonance of the instrument. My cello has an especially bright and powerful quality, especially on …
Following a hectic final term at school, my return home last Friday was greeted with the excitement of both the women and men's Wimbledon finals. Throughout the whole of the tournament this year, I couldn't help but compare the lives of tennis players with our lives as musicians, and how tennis may be revealing …
I believe it is now widely accepted, or at least should be, that the soul of great music and a great artist is not solely created in the practice room. We use the practice room as a place to learn how to interpret a composers emotions though our instruments. The practice room is used to …
Continue reading “Play it like something you hear down by the river”
For many years now Edward Elgar has been the main inspiration for my music making and growing passion of music. For those who aren't familiar with Elgar's life story, he was the son of of a piano tuner and lived in Worcester for his early years. He has become the definition of English music and …
For Christamas this year, I bought Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiography, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, for my pianist friend, Jasmin. I thought I would interest Jasmin because of Jeanette's inspirational story and her connections with Oxford, (Jasmin is awaiting a response from her Hartford interview!) and so it did. So much so in fact that …
I often wander cautiously around art galleries, often in the shadow of sincere tourists with their hands behind their back, face poised in a wonderfully intellectual and pensive expression. I feel inclined to understand the vast collections before me as they seemingly are, and marvel at the sense of x throughout the complexity of y. …
I didn't mind But Waiting for love Was like waiting for a dream to come To fly by and take me to a world afar Where love was the waterfall and I was the reflection I was shown the life from my dreams in the river A life where the moon kissed the stars And …
