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Showing posts from November, 2014

Tribute to Lidia Volpe

The eulogy I just about managed to deliver today as we bid farewell to our mother. ---- Before I begin I would like, on behalf of our family, to thank you all for coming today to celebrate Mum's life. I would especially like to thank James and Sarah for organising the music for us today and especially all of my friends and colleagues from Opera Holland Park for giving your time to bring your talent and kindness to honour our mother. We are extremely grateful. ------- I want to speak to you today mum. I haven't really been able to for so long and I want everybody here to listen to what I have to say because there are things that we maybe should have said to you before, but didn't. Lidia Volpe, nee Perillo, you were mother to Lou, Matteo, Sergio and me. You were grandmother to Matthew, Leanora, Marcella, Gianluca, Fiora, Jack and Lily. You were aunty to countless others and a surrogate mother to many, many more. Here with us today are the children of your dear friend

A radical plan for opera and the arts

A radical plan for opera and the arts What we do is plan just one performance of any opera or play. Perhaps two, just to be safe. We would save a fortune in performance costs. We then film and record it in HD super surround sound and maybe, just maybe, in 3D! We charge people something like a tenner per month to subscribe to a streaming service. They can watch it at home on telly, on their phone, their iPad, their Kindle. Wherever, whenever they like, just as iTunes Match says. Just think of the millions who'll take this up in order to discover opera and theatre; one minute Justin Bieber, the next, Coriolanus or Gawain. They wouldn't have to leave home. They'd love it. Now here's where it gets really clever. We don't make these recordings in a studio but in a theatre! Then we charge people a premium - like, a really big amount of money - to be AT the recording. People will love to tell their friends that "they were there when..." The tickets woul

Keep the noise down Jose!

You have to admire Jose Mourinho's chutzpah (liberally laced with narcissism). He returns in triumph to Stamford Bridge, spends a season waxing lyrical about his relationship with the fans, gathers a team that is being hailed already as one of the best ever in the Premiership (it isn't, by the way) and then takes an almighty swipe at Chelsea fans in a fashion that is guaranteed to get them hot under the collar. After the hard fought win against QPHa Ha on Saturday, Jose went on the offensive; the floodlights man was targeted and then so were the fans. We were too quiet apparently - I was there and I can't say the noise levels were any different from normal; we got loud when we attacked, sat grumbling when we didn't, started whining when our small neighbours scored and then we went mad when Hazard scored the winner. The only thing with the potential to have changed that would have been Rio Ferdinand's appearance. T'was ever thus, so one has to wonder what Jos