Act: Throat
Date: Thursday 11 May, 2006
Venue: The Playhouse, Norwich
Reviewed by: Robert Jackman If you stare long enough at clouds you'll see whatever you want to see. That just about summarises my cynicism for artistic plays. And at times this is true for Flick Fernando's Throat.
Whether it's the fluorescent fountains of light or the amphetamine paced soap-opera monologues, there's something here for everyone. This is more intelligent than most leftfield art plays. Just when you've spent the last few minutes wondering 'why?', Fernando changes the question to 'how?'. Or to be precise how exactly does eccentric acrobat John Paul Zaccaharini worm himself around the ropes and twist in tandem with them with such flair? Then the show closes with perhaps its most surprising inclusion. An admission that there's no deep meaning, and it's all just a laugh. Satirical and sincere maybe – but as I said I'm cynical, and I can't help thinking it’s to disarm critics like me. Act: The Cappa Quartet
Date: Thursday 11 May, 2006
Venue: Assembly House, Norwich
Reviewed by: John Halford What's this? A lunch time concert with an interval? Well, no, some of us had been given the programme for the evening concert by mistake. This was rectified before the start, but, as it happened, there was a brief interlude between the two works played by the Cappa Quartet. One of the violin parts had vanished from its desk. Fortunately it was discovered before too long! But this did not detract from a faultless performance by four Royal Academy of Music students. The audience was treated to an intense interpretation of Shostakovitch’s String Quartet no. 10. Despite the warm weather outside, the temperature seemed to drop as the music portrayed images of bleak Russian steppes. The desolation lifted slightly when a more hopeful theme tried to break through, but the coldness remained. Captivating. The other work in the recital was the String Quartet by Delius. As in the Shostakovitch, the playing was superb: four soloists, yet playing as one. The intonation was spot on, the dynamics were breathtaking in the way the quartet was united, and the players handed lines of music to each other seamlessly. The pizzicato passages were handled with extraordinary togetherness. A memorable concert, and eight pounds well spent. Act: David Rees-Williams Trio
Date: Wednesday 10 May, 2006
Venue: St Peter Mancroft Church
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney Improvised jazz filled the high vaulted ceilings of St Peter Mancroft last night in the shape of the David Rees-Williams Trio, who performed in the round, like the Jacques Loussier Trio last year. Watching David Rees-Williams' fingers flying over the keyboard, I was reminded of water rippling over stones in a mountain stream, so rapid were his movements. The only thing that marred the show was the hardness of the pews - maybe cushions should be flagged up as fairly necessary accessories for this particular venue. Ow! Act: Girl Talk featuring Claire Martin, Barb Jungr
and Mari Wilson
Date: Tuesday 9 May, 2006
Venue: Norwich Playhouse
Reviewed by: Martin Barber It was a packed (and reasonably mature) Playhouse audience in search of some girlie festival fun on Tuesday night and these musical vixens didn't disappoint. With the vocal talents of British jazz singer of the year Claire Martin (and for me the star of the night), international cabaret award-winner Barb Jungr and Neasden queen of soul Mari Wilson – this gig was never going to be understated as the girls gave it their all.
 | | Mari Wilson, Barb Jungr & Claire Martin |
Dressed in everything from silk and sequins, to rubber gloves and sparkly tiaras (have you never known a tiara not to be), accompanied by pianist Adrian York, our trio romped their way through a musical homage to all things girlie. Opening with Girls Talk (what else) they segued through a raft of numbers that lampooned the non-PC songs of years gone by. Featuring everything from Bacharach to Motown and Sondheim (they apologised for that) – each number was there to explore the role of women through songs about dating, marriage, love and loss. I'm guessing one of the campest of nights in the festival programme, packed with good humour and musical pleasure. A real treat. Act: An Evening With Willard White
Date: 9 May, 2006
Venue: St Andrew's Hall
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney They don't come much better than this man, who only has to speak to reduce me to jelly. However, he wasn't at St Andrews Hall only to speak, he sang as well- his deep, resonant voice filling the Hall. Dressed in a shimmering grey loose shirt top, Sir Willard became the legendary civil rights campaigner and singer Paul Robeson, with Beverley Humphreys narrating his story from childhood to retirement. Everyone who came was waiting for Ol' Man River - which of course Robeson was known for - and we eventually savoured the treat we'd been anticipating, with some truly memorable songs from around the world beforehand. The Song Of The Volga Boatmen, some of the best known Negro spirituals and British folk songs - all in his wonderful bass-baritone. I never thought to see such a member of the Operatic glitterati performing here in little old Norwich - another real highlight of the festival. Act: The Katona Twins guitar duo
Date: 7 May, 2006
Venue: John Innes Centre
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney Double the delight, the Katona Twins are synchronised to the point of becoming one. From the moment they stepped onto the stage, the Hungarian men in black showed they were real guitar virtuosos. I felt it wasn't really until they began to play South American music by Piazzolla that the John Innes Centre began to take off, with one twin taking the lead only to be echoed by the second, and the whole thing reversed. After the interval, the flamenco influence from composer Paco de Lucia set the stage alight. These guys didn't only pluck the strings with assurance, they banged and slapped the bridge and the body of the guitar, beating out the Latin rhythm, sending everyone's feet into toe-tapping mode. The only thing missing was an unbelievably beautiful senorita in a multi-layered red dress. Act: Festival Chorus and Academy Of Ancient Music
Date: 6 May, 2006
Venue: Norwich Cathedral
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney A triumph for composer Joby Talbot, who was commissioned by the festival to write a choral piece in response to Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus.
 | | Composer Joby Talbot |
It was a daunting challenge, given that Mozart is probably one of our best-known classical composers. But he created a radiant response to the piece, which followed the Mozart without a break. Under the baton of John Aplin, the Festival Chorus achieved a tight blend of voices, giving it attack where it was needed, but pathos too in the quieter passages, and all this accompanied by the Academy Of Ancient Music in our most beautiful Norwich Cathedral. The second-half was coloured for me by the knowledge that Mozart never knew he was writing his own requiem, and that he was never recognised in his own lifetime. A stirring, haunting piece which he never finished - again, a footnote that, for me, makes the difference. A true highlight of the festival so far. Act: Polar Bear
Date: 6 May, 2006
Venue: Norwich Playhouse
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney Like some of the others in the cathedral audience on Saturday, I hot-footed it to the Playhouse immediately after, to catch the last half hour or so of Polar Bear: two saxophonists, a bassist and a drummer. They were really giving it some welly in a kind of improvised contemporary jazz session. This included sounds created via computer, and I would guess the kind of music they create is very much the cutting edge. Polar Bear's drummer Seb Rochford, with his trademark giant Afro hairstyle, kept the rhythm bouncing along, as did the bass player. But it seemed we were looking very much towards the future with the youthful fifth member of the band, whose contribution appeared to be via a computer mouse. The audience loved it. Act: Britten Sinfonia with Joanna MacGregor,
Andy Sheppard and kuljit Bhamra
Date: 4 May, 2006
Venue: St Andrew's Hall
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney Joanna MacGregor, pianist and conductor, was made for music.
 | | Joanna MacGregor |
Watching her at St Andrew's Hall, I was reminded of the phrase 'a whirling dervish' and it is down to her that the compositions of the late American jazzman Moondog, have enjoyed such prominence lately. Half of the repertoire centred on his pieces, which evoke the sound of the street, accompanied by a pounding beat. Of course, late night Manhattan is nothing without the sound of the saxophone and Andy Sheppard was there to show how it should be done. Providing percussion par excellence was Kuljit Bhamra, responsible for the rise to fame of many Bhangra and Bollywood stars. The Britten Sinfonia, which has adopted East Anglia as its base, proved yet again that it's not frightened of tackling unusual projects, and the sound of these combined forces at times fair lifted the hall off its feet. The second half was devoted to Bach's Art of Fugue, which had more in common with old Moondog than either might have admitted. A triumph. Act: Bufaplanetes, Pep Bou
Date: 3 May, 2006
Venue: Norwich Playhouse
Reviewed by: Martin Barber This year's festival brings the promise of some unique theatrical experiences, and Pep Bou's Bufaplanetes didn't disappoint. One audience member was overheard to say, "How much can you do with a soap bubble?" The answer is, "What exactly can't you do with a soap bubble" delivered in an enchanting 90-minute show that holds you spellbound. Bou's bubbles come in all shapes, colours and sizes. There were bubbles inside bubbles, bubbles floating within window panes created from bubbles, smoke-filled bubbles and so on. Just forget the high school physics stuff you might remember about surface tension - it was much easier to accept it as magic! As an audience, at times we were holding our breath - afraid we were to shatter the fragile structure of Bou's art form. Bou is a master performer in a specialised art presenting an act of terrific family fun set to a funky sound design. My money is on the fact there will be people all over Norfolk now seeing what they can do with a blow pipe, a touch of washing up liquid and some water. Bathtime will never be the same again! Act: The Sixteen by Candlelight
Date: 3 May, 2006
Venue: Norwich Cathedral
Reviewed by: Lyn McKinney I saw and heard what I knew to be the very best in its class, and it really got the musical part of the festival off to a great start. Lit by candlelight, which flickered around the huge stone columns of the cathedral, the Sixteen choir produced the most exquisite Thomas Luis de Victoria's Requiem of 1605. The blending of voices hung in the air: harmonies lifting and swooping with complete assurance, technically spot-on, under the ever-watchful eye of founder and conductor Harry Christophers. No wonder they won a Brit Award for ensemble recording in 2005. It was an inspirational and uplifting evening, with audience members giving them a standing ovation. | 
