Cultural Dessert

Our brief sampling of the Brighton Festival started with a great concert by the Brighton Youth Orchestra at St Bartholomew’s Church. Conducted by the indefatigable Andy Sherwood, the BYO were in fine form, opening with an impressive performance of the ‘Overture to Candide’ by Leonard Bernstein. But the concert was dominated by two very different soloists. The legendary bass, Sir John Tomlinson, joined the orchestra for the premiere of ‘Midnight Skaters’ by local composer Peter Copley – a beautiful, thoughtful piece. This was followed by the fascinating spectacle of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘Earth Cry’ for orchestra and didgeridoo. The didgeridoo soloist Steve Heath (originally from Portsmouth rather than Australia!) created an amazing range of sounds and demonstrated an incredible feat of circular breathing. Sir John returned after the interval to sing excerpts from Mussorgsky’s ‘Boris Godunov’ – a powerful climax to a very enjoyable evening.