I had the pleasure of seeing Emma Kirkby perform at my university, and,
whereas I am a fan of her music recordings, I was rather disappointed at
this performance.
When I shut my eyes, or looked away, it was fine, but I am a firm believer
of 'performers'. I know that this is an exception to her rule, rather than
a general, but she really didn't know the music as well as she should have
done. As singers we're taught never to use the music, so it came as rather
a shock to see her holding a large black folder. And, unfortunately for
us, she didn't just glance at the folder, but really studied it. The place
where she stopped breifly to find her place didn't go un-noticed by several
music students either.
However, in the encore, she literally didn't take her eyes off the music.
When I think how many hundreds of pieces she must know, why pick a new
piece that you don't know at all for your encore. Her sound, as always
though, saved her in this performance, but as a whole, it felt as though
she was thinking about the concert as one that was in a small-ish
university concert hall.
It was a shame, as I am a fan of hers - but then I suppose we're not
all perfect.
Stephanie Seeney
Cardiff, Wales, GB
Find me at http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/9575
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