• Funny! Orchestra ... to "The Funniest Classical Orchestra Ever" • Funniest Classica... - this is the guy that actually does on a concert stage what others just talk about. Find out what Rainer did next http://bit.ly/1hGR52j Rainer and his Orkestra are on tour in Autumn 2020 • The Third Man (19...
Director: Carol Reed
Writers: Graham Greene, Orson Welles, Alexander Korda
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli
Genres: Colorized classic, Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is now one of the nation’s finest young musicians. This performance from 2013 gives an incredible insight into her developing talent.
Meet a 10-year-old who was in full command of music, giving a performance beyond her years.
The Fantaisie-Impromptu is a piece for solo piano at a breathless tempo, with rapid rolling broken chords in the left hand and flowing semi-quavers in the right. Composed in 1834, the fantasy showcases the full virtuosity, poetry and inventiveness of Chopin’s writing.
As fiendish and technical as it is, a talented pianist will have command of the notes. But as with the greatest music performances, it’s the expression, emotion and poetry beyond those notes that hit the heart.
And that’s just what we got from this talented youngster ten years ago. It’s a five-minute window into the musical ability of a prodigy who has already gone on to achieve great things.
The young player is Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, the third youngest of the seven siblings of the Kanneh-Mason family.
It was filmed by her father Stuart Mason for the family’s , which has showcased the almost unbelievable musical talents of the two brothers and five sisters as they have lived and grown with music.
“Jeneba plays Chopin with sensitivity and maturity beyond her tender age of only 10,” commented one YouTube user, on this performance.
“Such technical ability and such emotion,” remarked another.
This video was recorded a few months after the young pianist gained Grade 8 Distinction and won the Nellie Greenhill Memorial Prize from the Associated Board for the highest marks in the Nottingham area.
Jeneba is now aged 20, and is studying at the Royal College of Music, where she holds the Victoria Robey Scholarship and studies piano with Vanessa Latarche.
Her talents now extend to great piano concertos with recent performances including , Ravel and Saint-Saëns’ concertos, as well as Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with Chineke! Orchestra.
Jeneba was also among the young performers that were showcased at Classic FM’s Rising Stars with Julian Lloyd Webber in 2022. Watch her intoxicating performance of Liszt’s rollicking Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 below.
That raw talent and sense of poetry in music-making has only grown over a decade. She is a very special musician and one to watch into the future.
A real life-Romeo proposed to his Juliet, on stage during a ballet celebration at the Arena di Verona.
On a balmy night in July, a Romeo and Juliet ‘Pas de deux’ ended in a proposal, for these two dancers in Verona.
Timofej Andrijashenko and Nicoletta Manni had been together for seven years, and both dance at in Milan as primo ballerino and prima ballerina.
The pair had just performed the duet scene from ’s ballet Romeo and Juliet on the stage of the Arena di Verona, the Italian city’s famously atmospheric open-air theatre, and were enjoying the audience’s applause.
As the ovation began to quieten, much to the delight of the audience, Timofej then ever so gracefully made the descent onto one knee. Shakespearean romance then became reality, as he popped the question to a stunned Nicoletta, whose reaction was all elation and adoration.
Speaking afterwards to Italian news agency ANSA, Nicoletta confessed she was “the only one who did not know” about the proposal.
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The show, aptly named ‘Roberto Bolle and Friends’, was put on by the Italian dancer Robert Bolle in the summer of 2022.
Bolle, who is principal dancer étoile at La Scala Theatre Ballet, happens to be a friend of Timofej’s. After Timofej confided in his friend about his plans, Bolle suggested the romantic setting, and asked the couple to dance the Romeo and Juliet dance.
From that point on, all behind the scenes of the show were involved in the elaborate staging.
Nicoletta’s brother, a lighting designer for the production, had hidden the ring on stage, for Timofej to pick up at the end of their duet.
At that moment, “time had slowed down,” Timofej told ANSA. “It seemed to me that it would never end, until I saw Nicoletta’s eyes looking at me.”
Timofej had also organised for Nicoletta’s parents to be in the audience that night, along with other close friends of theirs.
“I did not know that my boyfriend had organised everything perfectly, without telling me,” Nicoletta said. “He had invited my parents… my brother is a light-designer and is working at the Arena.
“All our dearest ones were there, without my knowledge.”
Timofej waited until after the final applause, and waited until the other dancers had moved into their places.
“Let’s say that I haven’t recovered yet, I was already very happy to be able to play Juliet in Verona, her city, to dance the duo with Tima, the man I love, my Romeo,” she told the news agency.
It was the perfect setting – Verona, famous for its connection to the Shakespearean couple, and the city to which people from all over the world flock to indulge in the fantasy.
Nicoletta added that much like Romeo and Juliet, “Our love will be immortal”, before adding, “… but less tragic!”
Sinead O'Connor (AFP)DUBLIN (AFP) - Irish pop singer Sinead O'Connor, who shot to worldwide fame in the 1990s, has died at the age of 56, Irish media reported on Wednesday.
Her family said it was with "great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinead. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time," Irish national broadcaster RTE reported.
Born in County Dublin, O'Connor made 10 albums in her career from "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" to 2014's "I'm not Bossy, I'm the Boss", and was best known for her cover of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U, released in 1990.
Ireland's President Michael Higgins said Ireland had lost "one of our greatest and most gifted composers, songwriters and performers of recent decades".
He praiesd O'Connor's "fearless commitment to the important issues which she brought to public attention, no matter how uncomfortable those truths may have been".
Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said O'Connor's "music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare".
"Condolences to her family, her friends and all who loved her music," he added.
Instantly recognisable with her trademark shaved head, O'Connor courted controversy throughout her career, speaking out frequently against the Catholic Church.
Iconoclast
Beginning her career busking on the streets of the Irish capital and performing in pubs, she recorded her first album "The Lion and the Cobra" -- a punk cult classic released in 1987 -- in London.
The artist said she had been abused by her mother as a child and in 1992 protested the abuse of children by the Catholic Church tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II performing on US television programme Saturday Night Live.
In recent years O'Connor had melded her outspoken political views with spiritualism and was ordained as a priest amid controversy in 1999.
She later converted to Islam, changing her name to Shuhada' Sadaqat in 2018.
Writing on Twitter, which is being rebranded as ‘X’, Canadian singer Bryan Adams wrote "RIP Sinead O'Connor, I loved working with you making photos, doing gigs in Ireland together and chats, all my love to your family."
Irish comedian Dara O Briain said O'Connor's death came as "just very sad news. Poor thing.
"I hope she realised how much love there was for her."
Irish mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor commented on the singer's death writing: "The world has lost an artist with the voice of an Angel.
"Ireland has lost an iconic voice and one of our absolute finest, by a long shot. And I have lost a friend."
Moyet's 80s British pop singer Alison Moyet said O'Connor had a voice that "cracked stone with force by increment".
"As beautiful as any girl around & never traded on that card. I Loved that about her. Iconoclast," she added.
Lead singer for 90s rock band The Charlatans Tim Burgess wrote: "Sinead was the true embodiment of a punk spirit.
"She did not compromise and that made her life more of a struggle. Hoping that she has found peace."
Cultural impact
"It is hard to think of an artist who has had the social and cultural impact of Sinead," Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland wrote in reaction to her death.
"What a loss. Heartfelt condolences to her children, her family and all who loved her," he added.
O'Connor had also spoken publicly about her mental health struggles, telling Oprah Winfrey in 2007 that she struggled with thoughts of suicide and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
More recently she had shunned the limelight, in particular following the death of her son Shane from suicide last year at the age of 17.
O'Connor is survived by three children and had reportedly been dividing her time between Ireland and Britain prior to her death.
