Well, as many of you will surmise already, I did NOT get to go to the opening night of the Edinburgh International Festival.
According to Twitter last night, the performance of John Adams’ El Nino was warmly received by all including the Arts Correspondent of The Herald, Philip JE Miller, Arts/Entertainment Writer of the Year, Scottish Press Awards 2010:
PhilipJEMiller Adams, for me, is a little uneven and his rhythms are fiendish but at his best, awesomely beautiful. As tonite was.
PhilipJEMiller Pretty wonderful start to the @edintfest tonight. El Nino wonderfully performed by BBC SSO. Youth choir at end were excellent.
Sisters, Lyndsey Bowditch and Gillian Crawford, aka tartan_twist, made a great night of it. Taking a break from designing enchanting Scottish jewellery in Leith, they savoured bubbly, oysters and enjoyed the thrill of watching one of their offspring performing:
Sisters
tartan_twist Back from opening night concert at the Edinburgh International Festival. John Adam’s El Nino with Sir Willard White. No1 daughter singing
tartan_twist Preceded by champagne and oysters in the Cafe Royal
The legendary classical Edinburgh blogger, Where’sRunnicles, aka Tam Pollard, even sent out a photo to us wretched Twitter folk stuck in our living rooms with sausages, beans, mashed potatoes and a bottle of chilled white wine. A very bad combination. Very bad.
wheresrunnicles The is set for Conlon @BBCSSO & the festival chorus to kick off the 2010 @edintfest with Adams’ El Niño http://twitpic.com/2ee0bf
IainMcLarty, a local music student, said
iainmclarty Stunning opening concert @edintfest orchestra colours were magical,soloists communicated brilliantly…
iainmclarty& @edintfest chorus and girls choir were just fantastic. The corporate sound was brilliant, like one voice, and so much musical expression
By far the most tragic posts were from myself, who even went as far as to offer sex for tickets (I had a couple of glasses of wine) then moped around feeling sorry for myself:
finwycherley El Nino, John Adams, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 8pm – anybody want a convivial escort? I do post show drinks and scintillating chat #edintfest
Fin
finwycherleyDesperate journalist wanting tkts for tonight’s Usher Hall gig. Am now offering cash since sex dont work #edintfest
finwycherley Willard White performs as baritone in El Nino cos hates bein typecast as eccentric billionaire in James Bond’s Diamonds R Forever #edintfest about 12 hours ago via web
finwycherley Halleluja Junction: John Adams describes mastering a marginal European art form in a democrtic society full of great torrents of seductive musical junk #edintfest
Sad, very sad. Somebody give the grrrl a ticket.
Willard White, baritone
- Argh, I cant believe I havent scored a ticket for tonight’s opening El Nino at Usher Hall. Anybody hook a grrrl up? Open to trade #edintfest
- El Nino, John Adams, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 8pm – anybody want a convivial escort who can tell you the history of the show/composer/script?
- El Nino, John Adams, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 8pm – anybody want a convivial escort? I do post show drinks and scintillating chat #edintfest
- RT @edfestival Preview: Carke Peters’ Five Guys Named Moe : Scotsman.com http://bit.ly/cWUFSH
- @BaggingScotland Wadya want?
- Desperate journalist wanting tkts for tonight’s Usher Hall gig. Am now offering cash since sex dont work #edintfest
- edintfest Only half an hour to go until John Adam’s El Nino and @edintfest 2010 is officially underway!! about 14 hours ago via TweetDeck Retweeted by you
- wheresrunnicles The is set for Conlon @BBCSSO & the festival chorus to kick off the 2010 @edintfest with Adams’ El Niño http://twitpic.com/2ee0bf
- Damn, El Nino started. Got a flurry of hope when found out it was being recorded by BBC Radio 3, but only broadcast in September #edintfest
- So here I am, at home, NOT watching John Adams’ El Nino, doing the ‘Which Festival Opera Star Are You’ EIF quiz on Facebook, sigh #edintfest about 13 hours ago via web
- Halleluja Junction: mastering a marginal European art form in a democrtic society full o great torrents of seductive musical junk #edintfest about 13 hours ago via web
- Oooh, John Adams, composer of tonight’s El Nino has a facebook page where the Edinburgh Int Festival performance is his last add #edintfest
- John Adams, composer of tonight’s El Nino (no tkts) wrote to Leonard Bernstein chastising him for not being avant-guarde enough #edintfest
- Did you know, John Adams, composer of El Nino (no tkts), is also the author of ‘Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life’ #edintfest
- @edintfest How’s the concert going?
- Listening to Act II, Scene I: Desert Chorus by John Adams on @we7 http://we7.com/api/play/track?q=1210322 #edintfest
- Willard Whyte, baddie
- Maybe I’ve had too much white wine but I’m hearing swathes of Stravinski & Frasier – erudite, derivative, vain & pretentious #edintfest
- John Adams’ blog: ‘The Catholic Church: the butt of scurrilous humor & the source of sudden seizures of piety.http://www.earbox.com #edintfest
- threefromleith Dear Twitter – can I get an auto-block feature for anyone calling themselves a Social Media Expert / Consultant who tries to follow me? Ta!
- ‘Driving passages with pounding timpani, quizzically restrained lyrical flights, skittish fanfares’ says Boosey & Hawkes pre-pint #edintfest
- Check www.we7.com: its playing John Adams radio for me, including Steve Reich, Charles Ives & Morton Feldman, how sweet #edintfest
- Tmoz #edintfest, Jonathan Biss ‘proclaims his Mozartian credentials in scintillating, beautifully proportioned performances’ Daily pre-pint
Jonathan Biss
- Willard White performs as baritone in El Nino cos hates bein typecast as eccentric billionaire in James Bond’s Diamonds R Forever #edintfest
- @tartanhippo You think? Flurries or avalanches? Hope or despair? Cos me, I’m in the latter. Usual post flurry state
- nikkithomson I think that went rather well – lots of happy / relieved faces backstage after El Nino @edintfest
- If ever a phrase was over-used – best of the fest, groan
- Doing a major cull of non-followers. Anyone who tweets less than 0.5 times per day is dead, man
- theatreofchange #edintfest John Adams’ El Nino – interesting & courageous choice for opening concert.
- @theatreofchange Yeah, but was it any good? #edintfest
- PhilipJEMiller Adams, for me, is a little uneven and his rhythms are fiendish but at his best, awesomely beautiful. As tonite was.
- PhilipJEMiller Pretty wonderful start to the @edintfest tonight. El Nino wonderfully performed by BBC SSO. Youth choir at end were excellent.
- tartan_twist Back from opening night concert at the Edinburgh International Festival. John Adam’s El Nino with Sir Willard White. No1 daughter singing
- tartan_twist Preceded by champagne and oysters in the Cafe Royal
- Audioboo: What the Audience thought: Opening Concert El Nino audioboo.fm/boos/166474-wh… via @Audioboo
©finwycherley
