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Tag: Chopin

Nikolai Lugansky ploughs his own furrow with mixed results

Posted on February 25, 2025July 26, 2025 by Michael Church
Nikolai Lugansky Wigmore Hall, London Nikolai Lugansky was a typical Soviet prodigy, able at five to learn a Beethoven sonata by ear, before he could even read music. As one of the last survivors of t... Read More

Review round-up for piano recitals in Spring 2025

Posted on February 25, 2025July 26, 2025 by Michael Church
Michael Church – live roundup March 2025   Wigmore Hall: Roman Rabinovich 17 Nov; Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, 27 Nov; Nikolai Lugansky 8 Dec; Kit Armstrong 22 Dec; Danny Driver 2 Jan 2025; Alim Beise... Read More

Michael Church – column in International Piano magazine May 2024

Posted on June 24, 2024June 30, 2024 by Michael Church
Michael Church – International Piano live roundup May 2024  Queen Elizabeth Hall: Marc-André Hamelin Feb 23 Wigmore Hall: Andras Schiff  March 3; Steven Osborne March 12; Pavel Kolesnikov and... Read More

The extraordinary Yuja Wang

Posted on June 24, 2024June 26, 2024 by Michael Church
Yuja Wang Royal Festival Hall, London Impoverished by Brexit, shunned by a Philistine government, and shockingly undermined by the Arts Council, classical music in Britain is going through unprecedent... Read More

Maurizio Pollini – the end?

Posted on June 26, 2023June 26, 2023 by Michael Church
Maurizio Pollini,  Royal Festival Hall, London Maurizio Pollini was, in his prime, arguably the greatest pianist in the world. In recent years there’s been a  falling-off from his once immaculate ... Read More

In memoriam Lars Vogt

Posted on October 12, 2022October 18, 2022 by Michael Church
Lars Vogt remembered, By Michael Church   Can one play vibrato on the piano? Since it’s just a box of hammers, with each making only momentary contact with its string, the common-sense answer m... Read More

Evgeny Kissin on Russian anti-Semitism, in an interview with Michael Church

Posted on August 16, 2022September 9, 2022 by Michael Church
It’s an ill wind… Temporarily prevented from performing in Verbier by tendonitis in his left shoulder, Evgeny Kissin suddenly has time on his hands, and is in a mood, I’m told, to give an interv... Read More

Yoav Levanon’s London debut

Posted on March 20, 2022March 22, 2022 by Michael Church
A new concert series (HP Futures); a new venue (St Martin-in-the-Fields has transformed both its subterranean regions and its artistic programme); and a potential new star in the making: what’s not ... Read More

The magical Sergei Babayan

Posted on June 19, 2019June 20, 2019 by Michael Church
Sergei Babayan, Wigmore hall Hot on the heels of Daniil Trifonov’s triumphant residency at the Barbican came the man responsible for channelling the young Russian’s talent – Sergei Babayan. And ... Read More

Gerstein, Ohlsson, Hewitt, and the magic of Arcadi Volodos

Posted on March 8, 2019March 14, 2019 by Michael Church
Recital round-up No 53 for International Piano Magazine – April 2019 Wigmore Hall: Kirill Gerstein, Feb 24; Garrick Ohlsson, Feb 27 Royal Festival Hall: Angela Hewitt, Feb 26 Barbican: Arcadi Volodo... Read More
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Recent Posts

  • Nikolai Lugansky ploughs his own furrow with mixed results
  • Review round-up for piano recitals in Spring 2025
  • A hit and a terrible own-goal at ENO
  • Splendour and misery at ENO – was there no doctor in the house?
  • Don’t mess with Onegin, ROH!

Recent Comments

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