Reviews

Coffee Concert 14th November 2021 – Joanna MacGregor & Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by Michael Wilkinson

Joanna MacGregor’s appointment as Music Director of Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra has been an enormous and welcome boost to classical music in the city. Personally charismatic, and a magnificent Continue reading Coffee Concert 14th November 2021 – Joanna MacGregor & Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by Michael Wilkinson

Coffee Concert 24th October 2021 – Adelphi Quartet – Strings Attached Review by Michael Wilkinson

Whether absence has made the heart grow fonder, or whether I am growing softer with increasing years, may be moot arguments, but there was something rather special about this superb concert by the young, immensely Continue reading Coffee Concert 24th October 2021 – Adelphi Quartet – Strings Attached Review by Michael Wilkinson

Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins

In contrast to their previous Schumann/Brahms concert, this wonderfully imaginative programme was exceptionally wide-ranging in time, style and forces. From solo violin and piano to full concerto, from Bach to Piazzola via Mozart, Purcell and Vaughan Williams, what might have seemed a bizarre mixture Continue reading Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins

Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor With Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Other Reviews

 

Joanna MacGregor’s habitual breaking of moulds, tearing-up of templates and radicalisation of routines should inspire and empower the Coffee Concerts after this arresting presentation. The new artistic director and conductor of Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, installed during the pandemic in September and yet to stage her first BPO concert, stepped loose from Continue reading Coffee Concert 18th April 2021 – Joanna MacGregor With Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Other Reviews

Coffee Concert 14th March 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins

These two works (symphonic in scale, complexity and concentration) demand a huge range of feeling and technical grasp which make it an achievement to include both in one concert. Joanna MacGregor and the Philharmonic’s strings, despite the necessary physical distancing, rose to the task with performances of sustained beauty and power.

The opening movements of both pieces demand great drive and forward movement. Chris Darwin’s Continue reading Coffee Concert 14th March 2021 – Joanna MacGregor with Brighton Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble – Strings Attached Review by John Hawkins