Scone Palace, Perth - 28 July 2007

[richnorri]

Hello everybody!

According to the [url=http://icperthshire.icnetwork.co.uk/perthshireadvertiser/news/tm_headline=the-iceman-cometh&method=full&objectid=19486087&siteid=88886-name_page.html]Perthshire Advertiser[/url], All Angels will be appearing with Gardar Thor Cortes at Scone Palace, Perth in Scotland on Saturday 28th July 2007.

The Iceman cometh

Jul 20 2007
Alison Anderson

BEST-selling tenor Gardar Cortes is looking forward to headlining a stunning concert at Scone Palace next Saturday (July 28) at a time when his career is riding on the crest of a wave.

The debut album by this star from the north shot straight to number one when it was released in April. And on Monday, five days before his Proms at the Palace headliner in the beautiful grounds of Scone Palace, he releases his single ‘Hunting High and Low’.

While Cortes’ name and handsomely dark looks would suggest a Spanish heritage, the 33-year-old is from Iceland – where his heart remains when his career takes him globetrotting.

The former child star has sung at some of the greatest venues in the world, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s West End and St Petersburg, and he has his sights set on singing Otello at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Cortes was born to sing – but began his career as an actor. His mother, Krystyna was a piano student at the Royal Academy of Music when she married Gardar Cortes senior, a world-class tenor.

Most of Cortes’ childhood years were spent in Iceland, where he became a child star when he won the lead role in an Icelandic TV series, Nonni and Manni.

Cortes explained why, soon after he turned 18, he decided he wanted to be a singer: “I loved acting but I realised I couldn’t live without music. In opera you can combine the two.”

Cortes endured the hardships of a career in music – working in theatres and opera houses as toilet cleaner, usher and doorman – before his big break in 1999 when he won the lead role of Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, in The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End.

From that success in musical theatre, Cortes decided to concentrate on opera and won a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where both his sister Nanna and mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins were studying.

Since then he has oscillated between musical theatre, opera and concerts: “I always say I am an opera singer – that is my passion – but equally I love being on stage and performing, be it in a musical or a one-off concert. Each one produces a different kind of adrenalin and every time I perform I try to sing my best.

“I feel so lucky. I love my singing and I have been able to sing all over the world and with some wonderful people.”

Cortes explained that since the successful UK launch of his debut album, he has been spending more time away from his beloved Iceland: “I’m really based in Iceland but spend about 50 per cent of my time in London, especially in the past few months after the album was released. My mother is English so being here is like being home, although my heart is in Iceland.

“It’s so different in Iceland. It’s very small so everybody knows each other.

“Iceland is like a huge family. I like that closeness, and the tap water and crisp air are so good. I miss those when I’m in London.

“It will be lovely to enjoy some Scottish air when I come to Scone Palace. I’ve never been to Perth before but I’ve heard that it’s beautiful.

“I’ll be singing songs from the album including the new single and Nessun Dorma, and I'll be singing with All Angels for the first time. I saw them perform live at the Classic Brits awards and they were lovely.”

And so the man twice voted the sexiest man in Iceland, who grew up listening to his father’s pop and rock ‘n’ roll records and wanting to be a pop star like Prince, will share the Scone Palace stage with the world’s first classical girl-group, All Angels, and the British Philharmonic Orchestra, who will also perform a stirring selection of ever popular classics.

As with Cortes, All Angels are riding on the success of their debut album, and at Live at Scone Palace next Saturday they will perform hits such as ‘Ave Maria’, ‘The Flower Duet’ (Delibes), ‘Barcarolle’, and ‘Intermezzo’, all music of sublime beauty.

The concert will be conducted by Callum McLeod, Director of the British Philharmonic Orchestra.

Gerry Muldoon, from organisers EventOne Management, said: “Proms at the Palace will be the classical event of the year in Scotland, offering a great opportunity to see two number one best-selling acts alongside one of the world’s great classical orchestras. It promises to be a superb evening as people relax and enjoy the music in the spectacular surroundings of Scone Palace.”

The organisers have also announced that, due to overwhelming demand, they have added an additional concert return coach service from Perth to Scone Palace, complementing the service already confirmed from Dundee. Tickets for both services can be booked by contacting Highwayman Coaches, email [e-mail] or tel [phone].

Tickets priced £22 for adults and £10 for under 16s are available from Perth Concert Hall Box Office (telephone [phone], email [e-mail]), Scone Palace (01738 552300, [e-mail]), online at www.liveonthelawn.co.uk and on the gate on the night.

‘Proms at the Palace’ is promoted in association with the Stewart Milne Group and is part of the Live at Scone Palace Festival, which takes place over three nights next weekend, from July 27–29. Other headline acts at Scone include Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (July 27) plus top rockers Status Quo (July 29).

Tickets for Jools Holland (£28) and Status Quo (£29) are also available from outlets listed above.

Richard

[richnorri]

Hello again folks!

This event has just been confirmed on All Angels' official website, so I've added it to their Concert Schedule for 2007. I see it's tonight, so it clashes with Hayley Westenra's appearance at Woburn Abbey.

Richard

[richnorri]

From the [url=http://icperthshire.icnetwork.co.uk/perthshireadvertiser/news/tm_headline=stars-sparkle-at-palace-concerts&method=full&objectid=19548029&siteid=88886-name_page.html]Perthshire Advertiser[/url]...

Stars sparkle at Palace concerts

Jul 31 2007
Alison Anderson

THREE evenings of top-class music in the spectacular setting of Scone Palace Park on Friday, Saturday and Sunday could become an annual event.

Event One Management, organisers of ‘Live at Scone Palace’, said yesterday that they were pleased with the overall success of Scotland’s newest music festival which had attracted 13,000 people over the three concerts: Jools Holland with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and special guest Lulu on Friday; Proms at the Palace with the British Philharmonic Orchestra and singing sensations Cortes and All Angels on Saturday; and iconic rockers Status Quo on Sunday.

Gerry Muldoon of Event One Management said yesterday that, while some hitches had arisen and lessons had been learned, “we would like to think we will be here very much for the long term.”

Ground conditions caused by this summer’s dreadful weather gave the Live at Scone Palace organisers major problems over parking, and while lengthy traffic hold-ups frustrated concert-goers on Friday and Sunday, the general picture was one of highly-satisfied music-lovers.

“Overall, the feedback has been very positive,” said Mr Muldoon. “There are one or two issues we need to learn from, but the ground conditions were far from ideal.”

The area planned for car parking proved unusable so organisers opted for another part of the palace parkland, but that too proved unable to cope with traffic because of the rain-sodden ground. The third area chosen involved a lengthy drive for concert-goers and long hold-ups as people made their way home after the Jools Holland show.

A much smaller audience for Saturday’s Proms at the Palace resulted in a free flow of traffic in and out of the venue, and a review of traffic management after Friday’s concert led to fewer hold-ups for Status Quo fans on Sunday.

The organisers also had to put down several tonnes of gravel and bark in the stage area.

Mr Muldoon said that Event One Management would be having debrief sessions with representatives from Perth and Kinross Council, Tayside Police, Mansfield Estates and members of the public.

“It’s very important we learn from this year’s event,” he said.

The likely return of the Live at Scone Palace in future years will bring a boost to the Perthshire economy. Mr Muldoon explained that, wherever possible, Event One Management sourced services from businesses local to venues, such as the hire of marquees, toilets and hotel accommodation.

While rain caused problems before the inaugural Live at Scone Palace, all three concerts took place in dry, if rather chilly, conditions.

Around 6000 people attended both the Jools Holland and Status Quo concerts, while a much smaller number supported the Proms night.

While this low turn-out disappointed the organisers, for concert-goers it gave them plenty of space to set up their picnics and seats before soaking up the highly enjoyable programme of light classical music.

“We knew the Proms on Saturday was going to be quieter, which was a shame and we would have liked more,” said a spokesperson for Event One Management. “But given that it was the first year, these Proms concerts take a little longer to get established.

“It was always going to be a matter of putting on a strong programme, which I think we did, and build it from there.”

That “strong programme” was superbly led by the British Philharmonic Orchestra, which came to Scone Palace on the back of playing with Dame Shirley Bassey at her show-stopping performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Full reviews of all three Live at Scone Palace concerts will appear in Friday’s PA.

Richard

[richnorri]

Hello again everybody!

I've found the promised review from the [url=http://icperthshire.icnetwork.co.uk/perthshireadvertiser/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=19566635%26siteid=88886-name_page.html]Perthshire Advertiser[/url].

Proms at the Palace

Aug 3 2007

THE sardine effect of Jools Holland crowds gave way to a ‘pea in the drum’ feeling for last Saturday’s Proms at the Palace concert.

While the poor turnout would have been a great disappointment to organisers and artistes, the advantage for the audience was that they could spread out their picnics in comfort before the concert, then not curse the giant’s head in front of them once the music started.

It all seemed so civilised, sitting in comfort (well wrapped up but dry!) in beautiful surroundings, full of good food and wine, listening to a sparkling performance of light classical favourites from the world-renowned British Philharmonic Orchestra, enjoying the genuinely heavenly voices of All Angels and soaking up a powerful performance of Nessun Dorma sung by Icelandic tenor, Cortes.

Perhaps the programme came too much under the ‘populist’ label to appeal to die-hard classical music buffs. It is difficult to find any other reason why Proms at the Palace was poorly supported.

The programme and performers certainly struck a chord with this reviewer, even though the concert came to a rather wobbly end.

Conductor Callum McLeod extracted from the accomplished musicians rousing renditions of Rossini’s Barber of Seville overture, Souza’s Stars and Stripes Forever, and Overture of Richard Rodgers’ classics from the Musicals.

The audience were then introduced to the four young women collectively known as All Angels, whose debut album became one of the biggest selling classical albums of 2006.

The united voices of these talented teenagers delighted the ear with songs of sublime beauty which included Ave Maria, The Flower Duet and Barcarolle, although their venture into pop music via Robbie Williams’ Angels was definitely in the ‘ordinary’ category.

All Angels were followed by more stirring stuff from BPO, headed by classical favourites, the Can Can overture and March of the Toreadors, and then the audience was introduced by Cortes, whose album of the same name topped the official classical chart.

His first three arias sung in Italian did not overly impress – from the start he seemed wooden, his voice lacked the timbre of a great tenor, and he even at times sounded swamped by the orchestra.

Come his third aria Cortes was beginning to live up to expectations, and when he re-appeared on stage post interval and Dambusters’ March, he was in fine voice to perform three songs from his number one album, including his new single, Hunting High and Low, and the aforementioned Nessun Dorma.

And so came the closing section of this convivial evening of music and song – a replica of the finale to the Last Night of the Proms.

All went well until Rule Britannia. Clearly, neither All Angels not Cortes were expecting to sing this rousing elegy to Britishness. All Angels manfully sang the words from the score sheet, while Cortes stood in silence like a captain on his sinking ship. Next the audience was invited to join in the singing of Jerusalem, but showed unbridled reluctance to sing about ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ while standing on Scottish soil.

Land of Hope and Glory had the same lead balloon effect on the concert-goers until the Scots lassie in All Angels took drastic steps by bravely cajoling everyone on to their feet. Cortes still looked distinctively uncomfortable, the girls smiled sweetly to each other, really hoping the stage would open up and swallow them, the BPO continued to play with a flourish, and the audience became slightly animated.

It was far from the ideal finale to an otherwise lovely evening.

Alison Anderson

It sounds as though All Angels were excellent but the audience was a let-down!

Richard