Culturally it has been an exceptional year, I've seen some memorable stuff.
Operatically at the ROH there was The Minotaur, followed by Written on Skin (Benjamin and Crimp have been commissioned to produce another full-scale work), even Parsifal which was flawed but still occupying my thoughts: and The Met's Parsifal. Billy Budd at Glyndebourne was as good as opera gets, Opera North's Death in Venice, and The Ring at the Proms was a musical triumph. Most of these have appeared in one way or another on the BBC, so hats off to it.
On the stage, A Life of Galileo and Richard II at the RSC - David Tennant lives up to the hype. At the National, Othello. Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man, Nottingham Playhouse's 1984 and Richard III (with deformities informed by the recent exhumation). That excellent theatre is under threat from a cheese-paring council. And let's not forget Dame Edna's extravaganza at the Palladium.
At the cinema, Lincoln, Only God Forgives and Django Unchained (sort of).
Musical discoveries are the string quartets of Britten and Medtner's solo piano music, which I'm enjoying getting to know better.
If the next year can attain the heights of a fraction of these, then I'll be well pleased.
Any highlights for you?
A happy and healthy New Year to all.
Operatically at the ROH there was The Minotaur, followed by Written on Skin (Benjamin and Crimp have been commissioned to produce another full-scale work), even Parsifal which was flawed but still occupying my thoughts: and The Met's Parsifal. Billy Budd at Glyndebourne was as good as opera gets, Opera North's Death in Venice, and The Ring at the Proms was a musical triumph. Most of these have appeared in one way or another on the BBC, so hats off to it.
On the stage, A Life of Galileo and Richard II at the RSC - David Tennant lives up to the hype. At the National, Othello. Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man, Nottingham Playhouse's 1984 and Richard III (with deformities informed by the recent exhumation). That excellent theatre is under threat from a cheese-paring council. And let's not forget Dame Edna's extravaganza at the Palladium.
At the cinema, Lincoln, Only God Forgives and Django Unchained (sort of).
Musical discoveries are the string quartets of Britten and Medtner's solo piano music, which I'm enjoying getting to know better.
If the next year can attain the heights of a fraction of these, then I'll be well pleased.
Any highlights for you?
A happy and healthy New Year to all.
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