Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

François-Xavier Roth – the man who can do everything, and is doing it in next Tuesday's prom

François-Xavier Roth
François-Xavier Roth (known to his intimates as FXR) is an oddly elf-like French conductor you may not have registered yet but should – partly because he turns up in a notable Prom on August 9, with a Simon Holt première and the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony, but also because he’s one of the more interesting figures on the threshold of baton-celebrity.
Ten years ago he won the Donatella Flick competition which led to a series of engagements with the LSO. Then he seemed to drop out of the picture so far as UK work was concerned, with only occasional appearances on London platforms. But in the meantime he was building a high-profile career back in France with a band of his own creation called Les Siècles. And what made Les Siècles special was that their concerts would start on period instruments, playing Rameau, Couperin whatever, and end on contemporary ones playing Boulez and Birtwistle.

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London riots spread beyond capital: day three roundup

London riots spread beyond capital: day three roundup
A third night of violence in London led to the death of a man and widespread destruction. Disturbances spread to other UK cities, and David Cameron pledged a tough response.
A cleanup operation is under way across London after the third and worst night of violence resulted in widespread damage across the capital, with unrest spreading to cities around the UK.
Buildings were set ablaze, businesses ransacked; overstretched officers were pelted with petrol bombs, bricks and other makeshift missiles. Normally peaceful streets were laid waste as rioting flashed around the city. A man died after being shot in Croydon, south London.
At times the police appeared overwhelmed by the sheer number of incidents – which began with serious rioting in Hackney and spread to the south London neighborurhoods of Peckham, Lewisham, Colliers Wood and Croydon, where a 100-year-old furniture store was torched.

There was trouble too in the relatively well-off west London suburb of Ealing, and even sporadic outbreaks of violence in Notting Hill, where diners a Michelin-starred restaurant barricaded themselves in the wine cellar to avoid an attack.
Disturbances continued apace throughout the night and spread outside London for the first time with riots reported in Birmingham, Bristol andLiverpool.
In north London, Guardian video journalist John Domokos found Turkish shopkeepers defending their premises against attack.

Via http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/09/london-riots-day-three-roundup
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