Kenneth Walton

Featured in: Favicon

scotsman.com

Articles

Donald Runnicles at 70: the Edinburgh-born conductor on 'digging deep' into Mahler and Bruckner at EIF

Aug 19, 2024 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

The great conductor reflects upon his remarkable career in opera - ‘It was my destiny,’ he tells our classical music critic Ken WaltonDeutsche Oper’s admin block sits along an unassuming Berlin side street off the city’s westward artery Bismarckstraße. The street sign reads Richard-Wagner-Straße, which rather suggests that the Edinburgh-born conductor Sir Donald Runnicles, approaching his 70th birthday in November, has absolutely been living his dream.
EIF music reviews: Exploring Ilumina | Illumina - In the Light of Shadow | Ian Bostridge & Steven Osborne

Aug 15, 2024 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

In our latest round-up of EIF music reviews, we’re treated to spectacular - and omnicultural - performances from a Brazilian collective in residence, and a short but fulfilling concert steeped in musical sincerity Exploring Ilumina ★★★★★Usher HallThere’s music theatre, and there’s theatrical music.
conductor Sir Mark Elder on his transformative 24 years with the Hallé

Aug 9, 2024 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

Ahead of his final performance as music director of Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder discusses his storied career and future plansIn an interview 20 years ago, English conductor Sir Mark Elder recounted bumping into legendary maestro Sir Adrian Boult backstage after conducting a heavy-duty performance at the 1978 London Proms.
meet the dissenting Russian director remixing The Marriage of Figaro

Aug 6, 2024 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

Ahead of Komische Oper Berlin’s arrival in Edinburgh, Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov unpacks his ‘raw, physical and brutal’ reimagining of a Mozart classicThe Russian film, theatre, ballet and opera director Kirill Serebrennikov is fearless about reinventing opera’s sacred cows in order to amplify their resonance with modern-day audiences.
EIF: Scottish Opera's Roxana Haines on a new production of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex

Aug 5, 2024 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

Scottish Opera stage director Roxana Haines - and members of her choir - discuss the challenges and rewards of staging a Stravinsky opera at The National Museum of ScotlandIn the 2006 fantasy movie Night at the Museum, an overnight security guard (played by Ben Stiller) is startled when, after dark, the exhibits burst into life.
Edinburgh International Festival music reviews: Carmen | St Matthew Passion

Aug 5, 2024 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton |Mary Miller |Susan Nickalls

Operatic twists and classical collections abound in our latest round-up of Edinburgh International Festival music reviews. CarmenEdinburgh Festival Theatre, until 8 August★★★★Not every detail in director Andreas Homoki’s conceptual vision of Bizet’s Carmen falls perfectly into place, but by ripping the storybook Spanish setting out of this popular French opera and turning it in on itself, he reveals something more fundamentally challenging, truthful and revealing about its fretful characters.
Why the BBC's U-turn on BBC Singers may not be a true reprieve - Kenneth Walton

Mar 25, 2023 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

As Britain’s only full-time professional choir, leading figures in the classical music world were among the 140,000-plus petitioners who responded vociferously to the BBC’s action, which was viewed by such world-leading conductors as Sir Simon Rattle and Sir John Elliot Gardiner as a scandalous assault on the corporation’s vital and historic role and responsibility in platforming the UK’s rich choral heritage.
Music review: BBC SSO, City Halls, Glasgow

Feb 17, 2023 | scotsman.com | Kenneth Walton

Sanderling remained sure-footed in a concert ranging from a boyishly flirtatious Mozart to a heavy-duty curiosity, writes Kenneth WaltonBy Kenneth Walton Updated BBC SSO, City Halls, Glasgow ****The conductor Michael Sanderling gets straight to the point. There was no equivocation whatsoever in an opening Mozart symphony with the BBC SSO on Thursday that cut instantly to the chase.