In Tears. Giuseppe Verdi beaten to death by unsubtle drummer

I just came upon a very, very funny youtube clip. Funny because it’s sad. Oh, so very sad and phoney.
One of my favourite singers, mezzo soprano Tuva Semmingsen, seems to have been in some dire economic need or possibly just out of her freakin’ mind. She actually joined the Danish version of Dancing with the [...]

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Bad taste… for blood

I’m all about vampires at the moment having read the Twilight books and chewing away at the series True Blood. Two very different things – the former I’m a bit cringy to admit having completely swallowed up to a point where addiction might be the appropriate word and hey these books are so terribly adolescent [...]

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Sacrificium. New album from la Bartoli

I don’t know how this has escaped my attention but Cecilia Bartoli will be releasing a new album this coming October. And it sounds great. Only… it looks a bit strange. Cecilia…in a male body?? Weird. Ok, castratos are weird – did you have to make it even weirder? And… “Evviva il coltellino”? As in [...]

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On special request. Photos of the Week #49

I just saw a very old email sticking its head up. I have to admit I check my hotmail address very seldom and tonight I did… One very kind Justus asked if I had any pictures from the Cecilia Bartoli concert in Rome in June. He had a ticked but fell ill, so he couldn’t [...]

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Klezmer in the hallowed halls. Photo of the Week #41

On Friday I had the great privilege of attending a concert with the klezmer band Mames Babegenush in the hallowed marble halls of the Glyptotek here in Copenhagen. I wish you could all have been there with me. Lots of fun!

These were the guys who played last year at my parents’ 35-year-anniversary-of-being-together which was also a truly happy [...]

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Yes! Cecilia Bartoli Receives Léonie Sonning’s Music Prize

The committee of the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize must be reading my mind. The past four years and this year they have chosen musicians who are all on my all time hit list:
2005 – John Eliot Gardiner
2006 – Yo-Yo Ma
2007 – Lars Ulrik Mortensen
2008 – Arvo Pärt
2009 – Daniel Barenboim
And next year who other than [...]

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Adorable! Cecilia Bartoli in Händel’s Semele

My favourite singer in one of my favourite arias: from Händel’s Semele the aria Myself I shall adore. The earthling Semele has become the lover of Jupiter and now she imagines how the crown of Juno would suit her… Juno being the wife of Jupiter aaand the lady in black in this video luring Semele [...]

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Ballad

Some months ago I happened on a TV show with the Danish singer-songwriter Niels Hausgaard. A hopelessly left wing man who never lets down the small people of society. There was one song that stayed with me and which even made my sister sit down to listen. It’s written in a ballad style very much [...]

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Crème brûlée. Photo of the Week #20

For my brother’s 18th birthday on Thursday we had an outstanding dinner with the closest friends of the family – also known as the uncle and aunts. For dessert we had this wonderful crème brûlée – the favourite dessert of all members of the family.
 

 
To see my brother turn 18 is truly special. I attended [...]

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The meteor has landed. Grand opening of Denmark’s new concert hall

On Saturday night Koncerthuset, the Concert Hall of the Danish broadcasting company, Danmarks Radio, had its grand opening. At last! The concert hall has been delayed for months and months and ended up costing much more than any one had imagined (or perhaps some had, but anyways…) and in the end making it the universally [...]

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