“The curtain has come down for the last time on the vast space at the heart of the RST – perched right on the banks of the River Avon and just a few hundred yards from the grave of the bard himself – as it prepares for a £100m rebuilding programme. While the theatre world generally acknowledges that the 1930s Art Deco building needs updating, there will be many a nostalgic tear shed at what is the end of an era.”
Tag: 04.02.07
The Lang Lang Effect
“The huge popularity of classical music in the Far East, and particularly in China, has created a talent pool a billion deep, from which a disarmingly varied group of musicians is emerging. The irony inherent in the old stereotype is that those fleet-fingered, impersonal performers (yes, there were some) replicated the values of a Western conservatory system that has long emphasized sheer technique at the expense of all else. The music world was, in effect, scapegoating Asians for its own defects.”