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 STOP PRESS: Lucy Crowe is replacing Lisette Oropesa as soprano soloist in John Nelson's presentation of Handel's Messiah in Coventry Cathedral.

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Some Enchanted Evenings at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne

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CHRISTOPHER MORLEY ENJOYED THREE ENCHANTED EVENINGS AT EASTBOURNE'S GRAND HOTEL SOME ENCHANTED EVENINGS Appassionata at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne ***** Eastbourne's breathtakingly magnificent Grand Hotel, so imposing yet also so welcoming, has an impressive roster of visiting musicians since its opening in 1875. Among the many luminaries who have crossed its portals are Debussy (who completed La Mer here), Kreisler, Caruso, Nellie Melba, Ysaye, Paul Robeson, Myra Hess… the list goes on. Latest to join them is the young vocal quartet Appassionata, who, together with pianist Will Sharma, presented a three-night entertainment "Some Enchanted Evenings" at the end of March. It began with baritone Matthew Siveter, already a much-loved veteran of Gilbert and Sullivan productions, presenting his one-man show "A Source of Innocent Merriment", drawing material from the likes of G&S themselves, Noel Coward, Flanders and Swann, Tom Lehrer, as well as d...
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  STRAVINSKY’S DIAGHILEV BALLETS Kimichi Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall ***** If this feat has ever been accomplished before, then I’ve never heard of it. To perform any one of Stravinsky’s first three great Diaghilev ballets – Firebird, Petrushka, Rite of Spring – is a tour de force for any professional orchestra. To perform all three in one programme, and by a part-time orchestra of semi-professionals seems to be flying dangerously close to the sun or the wind. And the result was a triumphant return to earth after spreading glory. The Kimichi Symphony Orchestra, one hundred strong, gave more than impressive accounts of these taxing scores, demanding both technically and physically, under the supremely calm, reliable and reassuring baton of Keith Slade.  What is their secret, one might ask? The answers are brilliantly obvious: an inspirational conductor with a flawless stick-technique; enthusiastically motivated players devoted to their instruments; tight, efficient,...
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