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Mambo to Mozart Click here for tickets This is a delightful performance/documentary which grew out of a long-cherished dream of Sarah Willis, a young British French horn player with the Berlin Philharmonic. Her dream comes true here with a grand concert in which she performs with the young musicians of the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón, as well as a Cuban salsa mambo band. This is a musically irresistible encounter between musicians of different disciplines coming together in an exuberant combination of styles and cultures. A joint celebration of Mozart as never before seen and heard, including works such as Mozart’s beautiful Horn Concerto No. 3 and lots of Cuban rhythms. Joyous original arrangements of Mozartian themes played by an irrepressible group of young Cubans who simply can’t help Mambo-ing to Mozart. The director is Magdalena Zieba-Schwind who does a fine job expressing visually the joy the musicians find in each other and in the music, as well as the exceptional communication between conductor and soloist. Cursive 11– Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan Click here for tickets Cursive II is an unusual dance piece by Lin Hwai-min, choreographer of the highly acclaimed Moon Water and Bamboo Dream. Inspired by the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy, this work is both commanding and seductive. The dancers from Cloud Gate Dance Company, trained in meditation, Chi-Kung, and martial arts, are spellbinding with movements, fierce as striking thunder or soft as flowing ink on rice paper. The captivating energy is further enhanced by the music of John Cage, while the blown-up images of ice crackles from Sung porcelain shimmer with delicate beauty. This production, choreographed by Lin Hwai-min and filmed by dance expert Ross MacGibbon, captures the meditative aura of the dance. You may find it slow-going at first but stick with it. Once you identify with the aesthetic of the movement, you’ll find it as mesmerising as I do. Frans Hals – National Gallery Click here to watch Why did Frans Hals paint monsters in his friend's portrait? Hals was one of the most sought-after painters of his generation. A gifted artist whose deft brushwork was unparalleled, he built his reputation on a new style of portrait – highly unusual in his time – that showed relaxed, lively sitters, often smiling, and even laughing. This exhibition at the National Gallery, the first major retrospective of Hals in more than thirty years, means a new generation can discover why he deserves his place as one of the greatest painters in Western art. Bart Cornelis, Curator of Dutch and Flemish paintings at the Natl Gallery and Curator of the upcoming Franz Hals exhibition (running Sep 30-Jan 21), explains the meaning behind a hidden monster and skull in this 17th-century portrait by Frans Hals, and how they helped to identify the sitter as Hals' friend, Isaac Massa. He's accompanied by restorer, Paul Ackroyd, and Larry Keith, Head of Conservation and Keeper. Between them, they reveal this painting's secrets. Leonard Bernstein's Omnibus: Beethoven's Fifth Click here for tickets I mentioned in last week's Theatrewise that Leonard Bernstein's television shows were almost single-handedly responsible for a whole generation of American classical musicians whose imagination and inspiration were sparked by his cogent and accessible explanations of how music happens. This programme was the start of it, his 1954 Omnibus film about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Omnibus was launched by the Ford Foundation in the 1950s as a way of improving Americans' cultural knowledge. The hit television series quickly drew a cult following, winning multiple awards, including no fewer than eight Emmys. Between 1954 and 1958, he hosted six more episodes on other music-related topics but this one was the catalyst. To say that these Omnibus appearances proved incredibly successful is an understatement: on November 29, 1954—just 15 days after this first episode on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony aired on ABC-TV —he was on the cover of Life magazine. Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth – "So Near and Yet So Far" Click here to watch The reputation of Ginger Rodgers as Astaire’s legendary partner “Everything he did I did too, backwards, in heels” has eclipsed that of any of his other dance partners but Rita Hayworth, especially in this clip from You’ll Never Get Rich, was at least her equal. Hayworth was more openly sexual, as good a dancer, and had a relationship with the camera that only Gene Kelly could compete with. She lacks Ginger Rodgers lightness of foot, but she glows on camera, actually putting Astaire in the shade. He comes off as a bit of a stick in this movie, more stand offish and distant, despite the lyrics of his song. But Hayworth sails in and reduces Astaire to a support act. She literally takes the eye away from him during their dance which is no mean trick. Pity we can’t see her lustrous red hair in this black and white clip nor more than a glimpse of her fabulous legs. Even so, you can’t take your eyes off her. See what you think.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
March 2024
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