Ruth Mackenzie has done a remarkable job in pulling together an all-star cultural programme for the London 2012 Olympics. The preliminary music list is particularly intriguing.
It includes the unbelievably belated premiere of Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach in Robert Wilson’s production; a 50th anniversary Coventry Cathedral/Britten War Requiem revisited by Scottish composer James MacMillan; new pieces by Damon Albarn, Rufus Norris and Jamie Hewlett; and a Peter Sellars co-production with Toni Morrison and Rokia Traoré.
And those are just the early headliners. I hear the BBC has been saving up its licence pennies for a 2012 Proms extravaganza and the Edinburgh Festival is also thought to have some fireworks up its sleeve – that’s apart from the usual Castle display.
I did not expect to have my appetite whetted by the culture show, but this is high-grade stuff. It may even put the runners and swimmers in the shade.
And here’s a new David Hockney to start it off:
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