Chie Nakano 🇧🇷🇯🇵🇪🇺

@verdur_in Omg, was it all AI?!😲 I thought they were actors and was wondering why there were no credits for the cast. I feel cheated now!

I sometimes wonder if having projects like Berg’a Wozzeck rendered woke “through the lens of the fragile migrant body” (nonsensically, because this “good migrant” protagonist is still a murderer and dies at the end) isn’t a price worth paying to have madness like this staged at all. And then I see that the “good migrant” is, somewhat unlike Berg’s character, AI-generated - and that the cultural institution peddling this nonsense doesn’t even bother to acknowledge this.

A lovely discovery today was Chaminade’s Callirhoë Suite. What a gorgeous piece–compact yet in four movements, strikingly symphonic. She clearly had the talent for larger-scale writing. One wonders what more she might have done with the same opportunities as male composers.

I’m “Elgared out” after a double bill today: his beautiful Cello Concerto with Philharmonia/Benedetti/Măcelaru, followed by my first Dream of Gerontius with LSO/Pappano this evening. Enjoyed Gerontius but really wished for surtitles–too dark to follow the text in the programme!

@Stephen74977713 @londonsymphony Oh no, I missed you again! It was my very first Dream of Gerontius. I really enjoyed it, but wished surtitles had been provided. It was too dark for the audience to follow the text in the programme!

On my way to the Dream of Gerontius @londonsymphony I expect to meet a number of twitter friends,

@Stephen74977713 @londonsymphony I was there too! The Korngold, though beautifully performed, was a little "too Hollywood" for my taste. But Shosta 5 was totally exhilarating!

Ears are buzzing after a fab Shostakovich 5 @londonsymphony. Preceded by some wonderful Korngold

Full fan-girl mode for Jennifer Johnston at the WH. My cheeks hurt from grinning like an idiot all evening! That rich, velvety, chesty voice of hers, w/ clear diction & emotional depth, makes her my favourite Mahler singer. Of course anything she sings sounds utterly sumptuous!

Gosh, it’s a nerdy week for me… From a Wagnerian coming-of age (Siegfried) to Mahler’s Resurrection with the Philharmonia & Kent Nagano. Me, confidently humming what I thought was Mahler on the way home – only to realise it’s still that leitmotif from Siegfried, gah! 😄

@RichardBratby Are you reviewing?

Siegfried.

Back at @wigmore_hall for a treat of a concert with one of my favourite violinists in the world: James Ehnes, with Andrew Armstrong. 🥰 Adored the Elgar, the bluesy Ravel left me breathless, and the fun encores James jokingly called the “dessert menu” were the cherry on top! 🍒

Joshua Bell was on 🔥 at Wigmore Hall with a fabulous programme! I only knew Grieg for his Piano Concerto; I had no idea he’d written violin sonatas. I LOVED the stormy yet tender Violin Sonata No.3 – now inspired to explore more of his music!Gorgeous Schubert and Prokofiev too.

Mahler’s unfinished Tenth last night (LPO/Jurowski) resonated deep within. My heart thumped with every drumbeat of the finale; breath forgotten! A single tear at the flute solo. Mahler’s whispered “Almschi” for anyone who has known love and loss. theguardian.com/music/2026/jan…

So good to see Simon Rattle on top form after his cancelled Proms appearance last summer. The BRSO really is the “Rolls Royce” of orchestras! 👏 Bruckner’s 7th was sublime, w/ that gorgeous Wagnerian Adagio — echoes of Valhalla! I loved the searing drama in Janáček’s Taras Bulba!

Another fab evening: James Ehnes in an astonishing performance of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata with @LPOrchestra & Ed Gardner. Thunderous applause! I couldn’t love Ehnes more — that gorgeous tone from his Stradivarius is magical! His Bach Partita No. 3 encore moved me to tears. 🥹

Kian Soltani & Benjamin Grosvenor at the Wigmore Hall – a spectacular collaboration between two of my favourite musicians! Five stars for virtuosity, creativity, a well thought-out programme & so much warmth and humour. My heart nearly burst during César Franck's Sonata in A! ♥️

Applause, booing, and many empty seats marked RBO’s opening of The Makropulos Case. More versed in Katie Mitchell than Janáček, I’d say: opera purists may bristle, but Mitchell devotees will recognise her signature blend of bold feminism and multimedia. Critics will be divided.

“…more akin to the contemporary gilded canvases of Klimt in a deliquescence of musical gesture, as notes inexorably [dissolve into] silence.” I love reading reviews that feel as inspired – and as inspirational – as the performance itself! 💕 #Mahler9 #BBCSO #SakariOramo

Oh my heart... Mahler 9 with Berlin Phil and Kirill Petrenko online! ♥️

@acorbettn Agree, sadly. Glad I’m not the only one that felt a bit meh about it… I enjoyed BBCSO & Oramo’s Mahler 4 in April far more.

Royal Festival Hall this evening and Mahler’s 4th. Frankly underwhelming. Wish I’d stayed in and given the bathroom grouting a good bleaching

.@duolingo just *forced* me to sign up for a free trial of Duolingo Super Family by not giving me an option to say no and continue my lessons! Does anyone know how to cancel it? In real life as in an app, not being given the choice to say 'no' is called coercion! 😡

An Israeli conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov has been arrested at a protest near the Israel-Gaza border. Last week, a clip of him at the Royal Albert Hall condemning Israel’s actions in the almost two-year long war in Gaza went viral.