Apologies to Carly Simon but I couldn’t resist. Carmen, George Bizet’s opera which was staged by Opera North at Leeds Grand Theatre last October, is coming back for a short season. The production is the same although there have been several cast changes. Fortunately the sublime Chrystal E Williams still sings the title role so…

After seeing Alcina I have decided where I am going for my next holiday, or at least I would have if the island on which the opera was set had been named. It is not my usual target destination being a sparsely populated place with nothing much by way of interest except jungle and beach.…

When I first began writing about opera I was advised that the music was great but the plots were a bit far fetched. I have indeed found that to be the case and surely no one can be accused of stretching the bounds of credibility more than Guiseppe Verdi in his opera Rigoletto. The work…

In view of the timing of recent concerts at Howard Assembly Room I was a bit wary about going to see this event. The American composers night was at Thanksgiving and Solstice on the appropriate day so Quartet for the End of Time seemed to be tempting fate. Fortunately 15th January was the anniversary of…

Well, here we are, a new year and a new experience. Until this evening I had never been to a piano recital. What an eye, and ear-opener! I have obviously heard pianists in action, you only have to look at my previous reviews to see that. Everything from rock’n’roll, through singer/songwriters to symphonies, but this…

Those lovely people at Howard Assembly Room don’t just throw their programme of events together will-nilly, far from it. After the US composers concert on Thanksgiving Eve, we had Winter Solstice on, you guessed it, Winter Solstice. 21st December is the date when the sun is farthest away from us, and is therefore the shortest…

A few days ago I posted an article, Part – 6, about the events in Leeds over the festive period which you should book ‘blind’ because they were one-offs so you couldn’t read a review before making up your mind. I also said that, as they were at Howard Assembly Room and in association with…