Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
What a brilliant way to get children into opera. My first experience of live classical music was back in the Sixties at grammar school, when the second form was herded into a building in Rossington Street, just opposite where the Merrion Centre stands today, and made to shut up and listen to a string quartet…
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If you want to know why I love Leeds so much then just read on….. Should you wish to take a browse back on this site to the articles relating to the City Centre MONOPOLY Takeover during the summer holidays, you will see the efforts put in by the parties concerned, including LeedsBID (Business Improvement…
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Before I write this review I must admit to not being a big fan of Gilbert and Sullivan. I was introduced to their work at school via The Pirates of Penzance and, even in my early teens, I thought that the humour was very childish. I realise that it was supposed to be satirical, but…
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Someone, far wittier than I, said that nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. Brilliant as this quip is, I must disagree as, once you reach a certain age, in some aspects of life nostalgia is all you have. This was illustrated brilliantly by Nathan Queeley-Dennis in this one-man show in Bramall Rock Void. The…
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In May, 2010 I went to a Minor League Baseball game in Lexington, Kentucky. The first pitch was at 3.00pm which got me wondering who would be there at that time on a Wednesday. The answer was provided before we had even got to the gate by the number of yellow school buses in the…
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When anyone mentions the violin, most people don’t immediately think of Indian music, but the instrument has become a staple in the South Asian classical world and this evening proved why. After an introduction from Keranjeet Kaur Virdee MBE, CEO and Artistic Director of South Asian Arts, the event began. Ms Virdee said that there…
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I was feeling a little apprehensive about this show before I saw it as the performance images which were supplied made it look a bit on the ‘eccentric’ side. I have seen productions which break the normal rules of drama and, whilst I am not adverse to a bit of rule stretching from time to…
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Now here is something different, an event to celebrate the birthday of a lighthouse. Not just any lighthouse, but the Eddystone in Plymouth, which celebrated its 265th Anniversary on 16th October, 2024 when this concert was staged. The structure was built by Leeds lad John Smeaton, who was born, and died, in Austhorpe. He was…
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I’m sure that we all have pieces of music which, if not our favourites, have meant something important, so much so, that we are transported, albeit only in our minds, to a place or time. The piece might have the power to console, I have friend who would fall back on Michael MacDonald’s ‘I Can…
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Not a very appropriate title for a production staged on a wet and chilly day in mid-October, but, as they would have been struggling to coincide with any of the three summer days we have had this year, I will overlook that. I have never seen the play by Shakespeare, on which this opera by…
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Tyke It To The Limit 