Latest news with #VaughanWilliams
Times
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Proms star Gerald Finley: Why playing psychopaths suits me
In 2018, when the Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley was the star soloist at the Last Night of the Proms, he unfurled a Canadian flag and a Union Jack while singing Rule, Britannia! Parading a Canadian flag at the Proms this year might be seen as a touch controversial — a riposte to President Trump's designs on Finley's homeland. So perhaps it's just as well that Finley is back for the First Night of the Proms — when no flags are displayed. Which is not to say that the concert won't carry a strong social, even political message. Finley will be the soloist in a rarely performed choral epic — Vaughan Williams's Sancta Civitas, written in the aftermath of the First World War. 'It's based on the Book of Revelation,' he says, 'yet it's a piece reflecting the destruction and slaughter that Vaughan Williams's generation had been through. And it's full of hope. People had lost so much. They must have felt that it meant something, that there must be a way of rebuilding a better world.' One imagines that many people hearing the work in 2025 will be hoping for the same thing. Finley, 65, looks the epitome of elegant charm as he sips a morning coffee in a central London watering hole — although we spend most of our conversation talking about his life of violence, cruelty, lust and malice. A catalogue of crime confined to the stage, I hasten to add. It's just a few months since he was at the Royal Opera House playing the abusive patriarch Helge in Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Festen. In September he is back on the same stage as the monstrous police chief Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca. Add to that his celebrated portrayals of Iago in Verdi's Otello, Don Giovanni and various manifestations of Satan and he has a weighty track record of operatic evil. How does such a pleasant bloke play such horrible characters? 'When I first performed Scarpia I asked myself: 'OK, is he a psychopath?'' Finley says. 'So I looked up Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test. It has a great line on its first page: 'Don't worry, the fact that you've picked up this book usually means you aren't'.' But did it offer useful tips? 'Yes. The whole idea is that psychopaths behave as they observe normal people behaving, even though they have these incredibly brutal, narcissistic, literally unfeeling tendencies. That's extremely useful knowledge.' Does Finley enjoy transforming himself into a thoroughly bad character? 'I was once chastised by an audience member who said my voice was much more suited to benevolent roles, such as Hans Sachs [the noble cobbler in Wagner's Die Meistersinger ]. But that's why I think it works.' In September he will perform in Tosca opposite Anna Netrebko , the soprano initially barred from many opera houses (she is still banned at the Metropolitan in New York) after she gave an ambivalent response to the invasion of Ukraine. What is Finley's attitude to working with Russian musicians who are perceived as sympathetic to Putin? 'That's more a question for the Royal Opera's casting team,' he says. 'I'm a working singer, I go where the job takes me.' After singing as a boy treble in a church in Ottawa, Finley was encouraged by his great uncle — the Westminster Abbey organist William McKie, who conducted the choir at the 1953 Coronation — to take up a choral scholarship at King's College Cambridge, where he read modern languages and then theology. 'I loved theology,' Finley says, 'because Don Cupitt [the radical Christian philosopher] was around then and he was inspirational.' • Those lectures must have come flooding back when he sang the role of the tormented Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic. 'Absolutely,' Finley says. 'When Adams gets Oppenheimer to sing John Donne's sonnet [ Batter my heart, three person'd God ] he really is asking all those fundamental questions. What is the universe doing? Am I finding the answers or not? Am I about to destroy everything?' Would it be fair to say that singing in the King's choir was less formative? 'Well, David Willcocks [the King's choirmaster in the 1960s] famously said that if you make an ugly sound in King's chapel it lasts eight seconds. So there was definitely an emphasis on gentleness and blend, which isn't perhaps the best preparation for opera. It took me until I was 30 to give strength and direction to my sound and unlock the true voice within me. I had to go to the US to find a teacher — Armen Boyajian, who's a legend in New York.' The coaching must have been good because Finley excels in just about every serious vocal field. He's the go-to bass-baritone for composers writing new operas, whether it's Turnage (he was also in the premieres of The Silver Tassie and Anna Nicole), or John Adams (he has just played Antony in his Antony and Cleopatra at the New York Met) or Tobias Picker (The Fantastic Mr Fox). And he's one of a diminishing band regularly giving song recitals, most recently on an international tour with the young pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. Is he proud of such a breadth of repertoire? He laughs. 'Some might call that indecisive. You know, Mr Variety's the Spice. But you only discover great music by trying it out.'
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
First Night of the Proms 2025, review: Swirl of musical journeys is a perfect start to the season
And they're off! The 2025 Proms season sprang out of the box with an opening concert that took us on a rollercoaster ride to far-off places. We felt salt spray in Mendelssohn, surveyed gloomy Finnish landscapes in Sibelius, jigged in our seats to Caribbean dances courtesy of Errollyn Wallen, and finally were transported into a strange, nameless Beyond by Vaughan Williams. It was an apt opening for a season that promises to take us on many musical journeys. There's an impressive roster of foreign orchestras to look forward to, an equally impressive array of new pieces, and the Proms itself is peripatetic, with eye-catching events in venues around Britain. And there's a welcome embrace of tough, bracing music, including masterpieces by those two great modernist composers in their centenary year, Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez. No-one can say this season is soft-centred. But the Proms wouldn't be the Proms without its lighter moments, and this opening concert struck a nice balance between aspiration to the heights and straightforward enjoyment. And it also launched the season on a high, in terms of performance. Following Arthur Bliss's affectionate and far-from-pompous Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood (the Proms' stalwart main conductor for its first half-century), the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo gave a performance of the Hebrides Overture that was striking in its subtle colours, delicate phrasing and unerring dramatic pacing. However it was put in the shade by the performance from Georgian violinist Lia Batiashvili of Sibelius's violin concerto. The piece is so hugely demanding technically that often one becomes aware of the soloist's struggles. That can be expressive in itself of course, but it was a joy to hear a violinist who simply soared over the difficulties, and allowed the music's poetry to shine through—above all the opening, whose far-away, fragile sadness has rarely seemed so poignant. After that, we were whisked southwards by the swaying rhythms and sultry maracas of The Elements, a brand-new BBC commission from Errollyn Wallen, the Belize-born Master of the King's Music. The title had nothing to do with the weather—it refers to the basic building blocks of music, such as bass riffs, melodic hooks, tangy chords, all handled with Wallen's customary saucy relish. We even had pompous Handelian fanfares and a brief snatch of Purcell. The piece felt just a tad over-extended but even so it was a delight. Finally came Sancta Civitas, a musical evocation of the dazzling new heaven envisioned in the Book of Revelation, composed for three choirs (the BBC Chorus and Singers and London Youth Choirs), two soloists (including the superbly otherworldly Gerald Finley), organ and orchestra by Vaughan Williams. Again it was the subtlety of the performance, the way Oramo carefully calibrated the shifting choral and orchestral layers to give a sense of new worlds emerging through layers of cloud, that really hit home. You can hear this terrific opening concert for 30 days via BBC Sounds; don't miss it.
Times
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Opera star Gerald Finley: Why playing psychopaths suits me
In 2018, when the Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley was the star soloist at the Last Night of the Proms, he unfurled a Canadian flag and a Union Jack while singing Rule, Britannia! Parading a Canadian flag at the Proms this year might be seen as a touch controversial — a riposte to President Trump's designs on Finley's homeland. So perhaps it's just as well that Finley is back for the First Night of the Proms — when no flags are displayed. Which is not to say that the concert won't carry a strong social, even political message. Finley will be the soloist in a rarely performed choral epic — Vaughan Williams's Sancta Civitas, written in the aftermath of the First World War. 'It's based on the Book of Revelation,' he says, 'yet it's a piece reflecting the destruction and slaughter that Vaughan Williams's generation had been through. And it's full of hope. People had lost so much. They must have felt that it meant something, that there must be a way of rebuilding a better world.' One imagines that many people hearing the work in 2025 will be hoping for the same thing. Finley, 65, looks the epitome of elegant charm as he sips a morning coffee in a central London watering hole — although we spend most of our conversation talking about his life of violence, cruelty, lust and malice. A catalogue of crime confined to the stage, I hasten to add. It's just a few months since he was at the Royal Opera House playing the abusive patriarch Helge in Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Festen. In September he is back on the same stage as the monstrous police chief Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca. Add to that his celebrated portrayals of Iago in Verdi's Otello, Don Giovanni and various manifestations of Satan and he has a weighty track record of operatic evil. How does such a pleasant bloke play such horrible characters? 'When I first performed Scarpia I asked myself: 'OK, is he a psychopath?'' Finley says. 'So I looked up Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test. It has a great line on its first page: 'Don't worry, the fact that you've picked up this book usually means you aren't'.' • The best classical concerts and opera: our reviews But did it offer useful tips? 'Yes. The whole idea is that psychopaths behave as they observe normal people behaving, even though they have these incredibly brutal, narcissistic, literally unfeeling tendencies. That's extremely useful knowledge.' Does Finley enjoy transforming himself into a thoroughly bad character? 'I was once chastised by an audience member who said my voice was much more suited to benevolent roles, such as Hans Sachs [the noble cobbler in Wagner's Die Meistersinger]. But that's why I think it works.' In September he will perform in Tosca opposite Anna Netrebko , the soprano initially barred from many opera houses (she is still banned at the Metropolitan in New York) after she gave an ambivalent response to the invasion of Ukraine. What is Finley's attitude to working with Russian musicians who are perceived as sympathetic to Putin? 'That's more a question for the Royal Opera's casting team,' he says. 'I'm a working singer, I go where the job takes me.' After singing as a boy treble in a church in Ottawa, Finley was encouraged by his great uncle — the Westminster Abbey organist William McKie, who conducted the choir at the 1953 Coronation — to take up a choral scholarship at King's College Cambridge, where he read modern languages and then theology. 'I loved theology,' Finley says, 'because Don Cupitt [the radical Christian philosopher] was around then and he was inspirational.' • Read more opera reviews, guides and interviews Those lectures must have come flooding back when he sang the role of the tormented Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic. 'Absolutely,' Finley says. 'When Adams gets Oppenheimer to sing John Donne's sonnet [Batter my heart, three person'd God] he really is asking all those fundamental questions. What is the universe doing? Am I finding the answers or not? Am I about to destroy everything?' Would it be fair to say that singing in the King's choir was less formative? 'Well, David Willcocks [the King's choirmaster in the 1960s] famously said that if you make an ugly sound in King's chapel it lasts eight seconds. So there was definitely an emphasis on gentleness and blend, which isn't perhaps the best preparation for opera. It took me until I was 30 to give strength and direction to my sound and unlock the true voice within me. I had to go to the US to find a teacher — Armen Boyajian, who's a legend in New York.' The coaching must have been good because Finley excels in just about every serious vocal field. He's the go-to bass-baritone for composers writing new operas, whether it's Turnage (he was also in the premieres of The Silver Tassie and Anna Nicole), or John Adams (he has just played Antony in his Antony and Cleopatra at the New York Met) or Tobias Picker (The Fantastic Mr Fox). And he's one of a diminishing band regularly giving song recitals, most recently on an international tour with the young pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. Is he proud of such a breadth of repertoire? He laughs. 'Some might call that indecisive. You know, Mr Variety's the Spice. But you only discover great music by trying it out.' The First Night of the Proms is live on BBC TV and Radio 3 on Jul 18, Tosca is at the Royal Opera House, London, Sep 11-Oct 7, Which of the Proms are you most looking forward to watching or attending? Let us know in the comments below
Gulf News
24-04-2025
- Business
- Gulf News
Pope's death sparks betting frenzy for successor
LONDON: The date when Catholic cardinals will gather to select Pope Francis 's successor is not yet known. But bookmakers and crypto investors are already scrambling to guess who will be the next pontiff. Just days after Francis died on Monday, speculation on who would succeed him is already 'one of the most popular betting markets in 2025', FairPlay Sports Media, which provides sports betting insights, told AFP. The next pope is among the 30 most active betting markets this year, overtaking even the hugely popular FA cup, according to FairPlay. Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's chief diplomat who was Francis's number two during much of his papacy, was leading several bookies' lists in what experts say is a 'multi-million dollar global market'. British bookmaker William Hill had Parolin out in the front with 9/4 odds - a safe bet. At his heels was charismatic moderate Luis Antonio Tagle - a Filipino who could be the first Asian pope - at 3/1. Tussling between third and fourth place across lists was Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna who served as the late pope's special peace envoy for Ukraine. Oddschecker, a website which compares online bets, has a section dedicated to the 'next pope' which has been visited by over 100,000 users, according to FairPlay. While bookmakers have carved out early favourites, the outcome of the secretive papal conclave remains wildly unpredictable. 'Inconsistent' At least 15 days, and no more than 20 days after Pope Francis's death, 135 cardinal electors are due to take part in a conclave to pick a successor, usually from among their ranks. While the Catholic Church frowns upon over-enthusiastic betters, gambling on the outcome has taken place for centuries. 'What was once a pursuit confined largely to Renaissance Roman bankers and courtiers has evolved into a multi-million dollar global market accessible at the click of a button or a tap on a crypto wallet,' said Leighton Vaughan Williams, professor of economics and finance at Nottingham Business School. The 'papal betting market has grown substantially' from previous modern-day conclaves in 2005 and 2013, Vaughan Williams told AFP. However, 'their accuracy in forecasting the secretive papal conclave remains inconsistent', warned the researcher, who charted the outcomes of 500 years of conclave betting in a 2015 study. In 2013, Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was not considered a favourite, and was ranked as low as 40th on some bookmakers' lists. While Vatican experts and analysts weigh in on possible frontrunners, the cardinals who form the conclave are sworn to secrecy on pain of excommunication. 'Without solid information to trade on... markets are largely reflecting speculation, media narratives, and existing biases,' said Vaughan Williams. Social media and crypto Interest has also surged this time following the 2024 release of Oscar-winning film 'Conclave', which dramatises the pontiff's selection process behind closed doors. One image widely-circulated on X breaks down potential successors by their ideological beliefs, with users comparing them to characters in the fictional film. Some social media users have thrown their weight behind Tagle for his moderate views and tolerance towards LGBTQ individuals. Another social media favourite is Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana who could be in the running to become the first black pontiff. The speed with which betting activity took off this year 'underscores an enduring cultural fascination with the papacy, amplified by media coverage and popular culture', according to Vaughan Williams. Beyond bookmakers' lists and seasoned betters, predictions have been thrown wide open with crypto-powered websites like Polymarket, where investors bet on future events. The American website which was popular during the US election won by Donald Trump has already accepted over $5.5 million in bets on who will be the next pope. According to Vaughan Williams, platforms like Polymarket represent a 'significant shift' by attracting more bets while navigating an 'uncertain regulatory landscape'. Polymarket placed Cardinal Parolin at a leading 28 percent chance of becoming pontiff, and its comment section is rife with discussions on the competence of the favourites. 'The next pope will be more religiously conservative but still open to progressive ideas on social issues,' mused one user.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pope's death sparks betting frenzy for successor
The date when Catholic cardinals will gather to select Pope Francis's successor is not yet known. But bookmakers and crypto investors are already scrambling to guess who will be the next pontiff. Just days after Francis died on Monday, speculation on who would succeed him is already "one of the most popular betting markets in 2025", FairPlay Sports Media, which provides sports betting insights, told AFP. The next pope is among the 30 most active betting markets this year, overtaking even the hugely popular FA cup, according to FairPlay. Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's chief diplomat who was Francis's number two during much of his papacy, was leading several bookies' lists in what experts say is a "multi-million dollar global market". British bookmaker William Hill had Parolin out in the front with 9/4 odds -- a safe bet. At his heels was charismatic moderate Luis Antonio Tagle -- a Filipino who could be the first Asian pope -- at 3/1. Tussling between third and fourth place across lists was Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna who served as the late pope's special peace envoy for Ukraine. Oddschecker, a website which compares online bets, has a section dedicated to the "next pope" which has been visited by over 100,000 users, according to FairPlay. While bookmakers have carved out early favourites, the outcome of the secretive papal conclave remains wildly unpredictable. - 'Inconsistent' - At least 15 days, and no more than 20 days after Pope Francis's death, 135 cardinal electors are due to take part in a conclave to pick a successor, usually from among their ranks. While the Catholic Church frowns upon over-enthusiastic betters, gambling on the outcome has taken place for centuries. "What was once a pursuit confined largely to Renaissance Roman bankers and courtiers has evolved into a multi-million dollar global market accessible at the click of a button or a tap on a crypto wallet," said Leighton Vaughan Williams, professor of economics and finance at Nottingham Business School. The "papal betting market has grown substantially" from previous modern-day conclaves in 2005 and 2013, Vaughan Williams told AFP. However, "their accuracy in forecasting the secretive papal conclave remains inconsistent", warned the researcher, who charted the outcomes of 500 years of conclave betting in a 2015 study. In 2013, Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was not considered a favourite, and was ranked as low as 40th on some bookmakers' lists. While Vatican experts and analysts weigh in on possible frontrunners, the cardinals who form the conclave are sworn to secrecy on pain of excommunication. "Without solid information to trade on... markets are largely reflecting speculation, media narratives, and existing biases," said Vaughan Williams. - Social media and crypto - Interest has also surged this time following the 2024 release of Oscar-winning film "Conclave", which dramatises the pontiff's selection process behind closed doors. One image widely-circulated on X breaks down potential successors by their ideological beliefs, with users comparing them to characters in the fictional film. Some social media users have thrown their weight behind Tagle for his moderate views and tolerance towards LGBTQ individuals. Another social media favourite is Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana who could be in the running to become the first black pontiff. The speed with which betting activity took off this year "underscores an enduring cultural fascination with the papacy, amplified by media coverage and popular culture", according to Vaughan Williams. Beyond bookmakers' lists and seasoned betters, predictions have been thrown wide open with crypto-powered websites like Polymarket, where investors bet on future events. The American website which was popular during the US election won by Donald Trump has already accepted over $5.5 million in bets on who will be the next pope. According to Vaughan Williams, platforms like Polymarket represent a "significant shift" by attracting more bets while navigating an "uncertain regulatory landscape". Polymarket placed Cardinal Parolin at a leading 28 percent chance of becoming pontiff, and its comment section is rife with discussions on the competence of the favourites. "The next pope will be more religiously conservative but still open to progressive ideas on social issues," mused one user. "Tagle for popedom," wrote another. aks/jkb/phz
