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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Today my promming fleece goes into the wash – to be put away till next summer. The promming queue tickets that have been collecting at the bottom of my bag go in the bin at last. What do I do with myself from next week? The end-of-season grief is real. 🥺 #BBCProms

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The god of Proms is on my side this year. Two Berlin Phil concerts in a row, and now a lifelong dream come true – a promming ticket for Martha Argerich tonight! I've never before been able to get any concert tickets for Argerich before it sold out. I'm on my knees with gratitude!🙏 #BBCProms

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I didn’t know any Scriabin until tonight. What a privilege to discover his Symphony No. 3 with the Berlin Philharmonic & Kirill Petrenko! After two nights with the Rolls-Royce of orchestras, I’m utterly intoxicated by the opulence of their sound. I could follow them round the world like a junkie!💖

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

“It’s the level of commitment to excellence that stood out.” 💯 There’s a reason why Berlin Phil is called “the greatest orchestra in the world”… 💕 Great Bachtrack review summing up the highlights of last night’s spectacular Prom concert. #BerlinPhil #BBCProms

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I was so blessed to get a ticket for tonight’s #BBCProms with @berlinerphilharmoniker.de and the superb Kirill Petrenko. The most moving Enigma Variations I’ve ever experienced, followed by an exhilarating performance of Tchaikovsky. Sheer ecstasy! Tonight, I died and went to heaven. ✨

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

“Warum sahst du mich nicht an? Hättest du mich angesehen, du hättest mich geliebt.” Gruesome final scene of Salome in the Met Orchestra Prom debut with Elza van den Heever. What a delightful all-Strauss evening! The exquisite violin–horn duet closing Ein Heldenleben pulls my heartstrings every time!

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Mark Pullinger @larkingrumple.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

“Sumptuous, hedonistic, highly calorific”: Yannick's back at the Proms, this time bringing his Met Orchestra and Elza van den Heever as a knockout Salome. bachtrack.com/review-nezet...

Elza van den Heever, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra
© BBC | Chris Christodoulou

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

“Die liebe Erde allüberall Blüht auf im Lenz und grünt aufs neu! Allüberall und ewig blauen licht die Fernen! Ewig… ewig…” #BBCProms on R3. Didn’t expect Das Lied von der Erde to leave me with a lump in my throat… But “Ewig…ewig…” got to me. Such gorgeous singing from Jamie Barton and Clay Hilley!

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If I can’t go to Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne must come to me. My very first Ariadne auf Naxos – bonkerly fabulous! 💖 Was it just me, or were there flashes of Wagner? The nymphs reminded me of the Rhinemaidens, and the final Ariadne-Bacchus conversation had echoes of Tristan und Isolde! #BBCProms

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I never thought I'd say this but..."Gosh, how I missed the SMELL of rain!" 🌧☔🌂 I had to open the window just to sniff the air... #sograteful #rainatlast

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

“A Proms performance for the annals.” ➡️ Yess!! 🔥 A lovely review here that deliciously captures last night’s experience. Ninety minutes with no interval just flew by, I was so captivated and hypnotised by Berlioz’s sound-world… #BBCProms #Berlioz

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

My 1st Berlioz’s Requiem at #BBCProms w/ LSO & Pappano (yup, I shamelessly fangirled him!). Spectacular, military-scale music, conceived almost architecturally, yet with the detail of a master orchestrator. That brushing of cymbals in the Sanctus sent shivers down my spine! I’m emotionally wrecked!

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Singing Betty @singingbetty.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

RAH totally rammed for Berlioz Requiem tonight. Hardly ever performed because of the ludicrous forces required, inc: - 10 timpanists - 4 off stage brass groups - huge choir - all the cymbals in London And yet it's so brilliantly written that you are never overwhelmed in a bad way.

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Ramin Nasibov @nasibov.me · 12/08/2026

If you missed the solar eclipse, this is what it looked like:

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Nothing like an #eclipse to meet your neighbours & make new friends in your garden! Had a blast of an afternoon trying to view the eclipse through multiple contraptions, including homemade pinhole projectors, colanders, and one pair of “proper” eclipse glasses, all amicably shared. What fun! 🤩

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

“Dudamel and the Philharmonic completely sold this music – a virtuoso score played by a virtuosic orchestra.” - Mark Pullinger, @Bachtrack bachtrack.com/review-dudam... An absolutely mind-blowing Thomas Adès’ Dante - Inferno. His ride to hell was heaven to my ears! Dudamel & LA Phil on top form! 🔥

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I’m still roaring with laughter at the memory of thinking this was a Le Creuset saucepan stuck inside a tuba… 😂🤣🫕 But doesn’t it look exactly like one?! (Photo is of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra about to play the gut-wrenching Shostakovich’s Symphony no.11. at the #BBCProms.)

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Me commenting to the man sitting next to me at the end of the performance: “Wellber must have lost at least 4 kilos from that workout…!”

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I came to hear the talented Daniel Lozakovich play Bruch’s Violin Concerto, but ended up utterly mesmerised by Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen & Wellber’s stunning performance of Haydn’s Symphony No. 44. A tour de force! I don’t think my jaw left the floor. When can I hear them next?! #BBCProms

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Anyone been blocked by the Royal Albert Hall site during the Proms season, on suspicion you are "a bot"?! How do I unblock myself? It won't allow me to buy any tickets from any device now... 😢

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I'm gutted I couldn't attend tonight's Prom, but even listening on BBC Sounds, I was overcome with emotion by the LPO & Ed. Gardner's performance of An Alpine Symphony. That ending—the slow descent into silence—is simply magnificent. Beyond words...just tears. One of my favourite pieces of music.💕

royalalberthall.com

As you were browsing something about your browser made us think you were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

What a way to begin my 2026 Proms season: a magnificent performance of Mahler Six with Sakari Oramo and the BBCSO. The hammer falls – three times! The cowbells answer. The world doesn’t stop for our grief… I’ll be thinking about that for a while. #BBCProms2026 #Mahler6 #BBCSO #SakariOramo

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

After waiting 2-3 years to get a ticket to any concert at the stunning Sala São Paulo, I finally made it there. And, as if that weren’t enough, OSESP happened to be performing one of my favourite Shostakovich works: his monumental Symphony No. 5 in D minor. My cup is filled! 🥰🎼 #SalaSãoPaulo #OSESP

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Elle Cordova @ellecordova.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Famous authors asking you out

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

"The effortlessness of Hough’s magical incantation..." -> This! 💕

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Every time I hear this man play, I fall a little more in love with him. 💖 Two hours of sheer ecstasy. Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, miniature Klavierstücke by Schoenberg and Stockhausen. “Mary Poppins” for dessert. Programme notes by Stephen himself! Spellbound and bewitched. *sigh*

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

For the first time since I became a "member", Ole & Steen did not send me a birthday treat voucher... Nothing on email, nothing on the app. Must be the end of the word. I feel bereft...😭💔#iwannacinnamonsocial

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

A lovely discovery today was Cécile Chaminade’s Callirhoë Suite. What a gorgeous piece: compact yet in four movements, and strikingly symphonic. She clearly had the talent for larger-scale writing. One can’t help wondering what more she might have done with the same opportunities as male composers.

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I’m “Elgared out” after a double bill today: his beautiful Cello Concerto with Philharmonia/Benedetti/Măcelaru, followed by my first Dream of Gerontius with LSO/Pappano this evening. 😄 Enjoyed Gerontius but really wished surtitles had been provided–too dark to follow the text in the programme!

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

So glad I got a second round of Siegfried. Absolutely brilliant! Pappano in the pit, Kosky’s genius on stage–few things in life are more exhilarating. Btw, can we give the props manager a shoutout for the fabulous steampunk contraptions in Act 1 w/ which S forges Nothung? Roll on Götterdämmerung!

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Take two! ‘Cause “once is never enough with a man like… Barrie Kosky…” 😉 #SiegfriedRound2

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Oh my, I've just found a way to fill up six hours of my Easter Monday...with more Wagner-groupie activities. 🤫#SiegfriedRound2

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Me reading about the Met Opera's new Yurval Sharon production of the Ring Cycle starting in the 2027-2028 season, with Lise Davidsen as Brünnhilde and Ryan Speedo Green as Wotan: 🤩😍🥹 Am already dying of love and ecstasy (like Isolde).

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

A stupendous Met Opera production of Tristan und Isolde, with Lise Davidsen sounding as magnificent as ever on her return from mat leave. Michael Spyres impressed with his vocal and physical stamina, reminding me of Andreas Schager’s Siegfried at the ROH earlier this week. 🧵1/3

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

As if nearly six hours of Siegfried wasn’t enough opera for this week, here I am for another six – with Tristan und Isolde. Hankies at the ready. I didn’t even bother wearing mascara today, knowing I’ll probably be a weepy mess by the end of Act III! 😭

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Full fan-girl mode for Jennifer Johnston at the WH 💖 My cheeks hurt from grinning like an idiot all evening! That rich, velvety, chesty voice of hers, with such clear diction and emotional depth, makes her my favourite Mahler singer. Of course, anything she sings sounds utterly sumptuous!

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Gosh, it’s a nerdy week for me… From a Wagnerian coming-of age (Siegfried) to Mahler’s Resurrection with the Philharmonia & Kent Nagano. Me, confidently humming what I thought was Mahler on the way home – only to realise it’s still that leitmotif from Siegfried, gah! 😄

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Loving all the rave reviews of Barrie Kosky's Siegfried! What a musical/artistic/vocal feast the opening night was! (although Act III felt a li'lle visually overwhelming for me) Still debating whether to go see it a 2nd time at the RBO or catch the screen version so I can enjoy the close-ups!

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Back at @wigmore-hall.org.uk for a fabulous treat of a concert with one of my absolute favourite violinists in the world: James Ehnes, with Andrew Armstrong. Adored the Elgar, the bluesy Ravel left me breathless, and the fun encores James jokingly called the “dessert menu” were the cherry on top!🍒

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Joshua Bell was on 🔥 at Wigmore Hall tonight w/ a fabulous programme! I only knew Grieg for his Piano Concerto; I had no idea he’d written violin sonatas. I LOVED the stormy yet tender Violin Sonata No. 3 – now inspired to explore more of his music!Gorgeous Schubert and Prokofiev too. Heart full! 💕

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

About Saturday’s magnificent LPO/Jurowski's Mahler 10. Mahler’s unfinished Tenth resonated somewhere very deep. My heart thumped with every drumbeat of the finale; I forgot to breathe! A single tear at the flute solo. Mahler’s whispered “Almschi” speaking to anyone who has ever known love and loss.

theguardian.com

LPO/Jurowski review – Mahler’s 10th is full of colour, and the composer’s pain, in Barshai’s completion

Rudolf Barshai’s audacious completion of Marhler’s final unfinished symphony slathers on the colour, and its diverse timbral details came over loud and clear thanks to the LPO’s playing and Vladimir J...

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 03/01/2026

Kidnapping the leader of a foreign state without any declaration of war and announcing it via social media is full-on rogue state stuff. From the world’s number one superpower.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I've always hated karaoke. But a Prosecco-fuelled Christmas do with colleagues bellowing out nostalgic love songs turned out to be unexpectedly therapeutic. “I died a hundred times…you go back to her… and I go back to...blaaack, blaaack, blaaack, blaack.” youtu.be/d7z5YjouK44?...

youtu.be

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

So good to see Simon Rattle on top form after his cancelled Proms appearance last summer. The BRSO really is the “Rolls Royce” of orchestras! 👏 Bruckner’s 7th was sublime, with that gorgeous Wagnerian Adagio — rings of Valhalla! And I loved the searing orchestral drama of Janáček’s Taras Bulba!

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Another fab evening: James Ehnes in astonishing performance of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata with @lporchestra.bsky.social & Ed Gardner. Thunderous applause! I couldn’t love Ehnes more — the gorgeous, singing tone from his Stradivarius is magical! His Bach Violin Partita No. 3 encore moved me to tears.

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Kian Soltani & Benjamin Grosvenor at the Wigmore Hall–a spectacular collaboration between two of my favourite musicians! Five stars for virtuosity, creativity, a well thought-out programme and so much warmth and humour. My heart nearly burst during the 3rd movement of César Franck's Sonata in A! ♥️

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

This excellent review by @markvalencia.bsky.social in @bachtrack.com reflects how I experienced it. Yes, I'm one of the unversed ones and was left very confused... "I’d defy anyone unversed in The Makropulos Case to unravel the story amid so much visual noise. But, oh, the glorious sound of it."

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Chie @chienakano.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Applause, booing, and quite a lot of empty seats marked RBO’s opening of The Makropulos Case. More versed in Katie Mitchell than Janáček, I’d say: opera purists may bristle, but Mitchell devotees will recognise her signature blend of bold feminism and multimedia. Critics will be divided, I’m sure.

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