Digg it
del.icio.us
I guess as far as historic landmarks go Hampton Court needs no introductions. Situated on the the banks of the Thames a few miles from Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, Hampton Court is one of the best preserved pre-Elizabethan palaces in the UK. I know it well as I often cycle pass it and the hoards of tourists however this was the first time that I had visited the Place to watch a concert. I expected the auditorium to be in the front of the building, where the ice skating is situated in the winter months however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the seating was inside the palace walls and the auditorium is designed in a manner which highlights the grandeur of it’s surroundings as well as being intimate. I have never been a fan of open air concerts however being situated within a courtyard worked perfectly.
As festivals go this was pretty posh. The catering menu in the hospitality area had been created by Gordon Ramsay, and if you wished to have a waterside picnic overlooking the canal this would cost you £120, excluding your concert tickets and booking fees! That said your picnic would be from Carluccio’s, and they’d throw in VIP parking passes to make your evening more enjoyable.
Katherine Jenkin’s performance was excellent. She has received a a lot of criticism from classical music critics and aficionados for dumbing down opera and bringing it to the masses however, in my opinion we need singers like Katherine Jenkins who hopefully will introduce people to opera and classical music who otherwise may have dismissed it as being for the middle classes. Again her dance effort “Viva La Diva” with Darcy Bussell was extremely successful however was shunned by serious critics who regarded it no better than a second class musical. It would appear that snobbery within the dance and opera circles is still rife!
Katherine Jenkins has been extremely successful over the last five or so years largely because she has managed to connect with her audience on a personal level, and has produced accessible cross over opera marketed in a manner which is easily digestible by the masses. Her last few albums have sold millions of copies across Europe and through her success she has introduced classical music to normal working class kids who otherwise may have passed them by. This is a real achievement and is imperative in order for the medium to survive.
On a personal level I don’t think you can carve up a 3 hour opera into bite size chunks. In order to appreciate and understand opera you need to listen to it in it’s entirety. That said the world of classical music is changing and whilst the likes of Jesse Norman, Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas will always be remembered as the greats I think there is now room for cross over artists who open up classical music to the masses.
Written by John Rahim