In the 12 years since winning Young Musician of the Year, Nicola Benedetti has built up an impressive career playing some of the most technically demanding concertos with some of the best orchestras in the world, so this was a rare opportunity to hear her playing solo with the Gariel Stradivarius.
Sometimes when a musician has been a leading figure in popular culture it is easy to over-look the range of their output, how many stylistic bases they covered, the ease with which they jumped from genre to genre, until it is shown in a different light – and that was the case with this concert.
The fast-rising folk-rock band False Lights launched their latest album Harmonograph when they played at Lichfield Guildhall as part of their latest tour.
The crowd that braved the worst excesses of the Beast from the East were rewarded by a set of lively Americana, fine harmony singing, strong song-craft and rootsy virtuoso guitar playing when the Grahams made their Lichfield debut at the Guildhall.
Three albums into their career, the nine-piece Chris Bevington Organisation wowed an audience of blues, rock and jazz fans when they played at the Lichfield Guildhall.
With influences that ranged from the acoustic guitar heroics of Michael Hedges to rap, a lively stage presence and the ability to play more than one instrument at a time, the concert that Rodney Branigan performed at the Lichfield Guildhall was never short of entertaining.
Matthew Bourne, whose Swan Lake famously rewrote the ballet rulebook, has turned his sights on this other archetypal tale, and the result is quite simply stunning.
Lichfield Guildhall proved to be a very busy place when the critically acclaimed singer songwriter Steve Knightley performed there as part of his songs and stories tour.
This subtly powerful drama is the real thing, and frankly I wish some of our local heavily-subsidised theatres could sponsor anything nearly as good.
The singer-songwriter Stevie Nimmo and his band gave a masterclass in modern blues when they made their debut at Lichfield Guildhall.
Take two leading blues musicians who started their careers in the 1960s, add in a sold out audience, and Lichfield Arts started 2018 in great style when Paul Jones and Dave Kelly performed at the Guildhall.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that there ain’t no party like a Sleaze Brothers party – and the talented band proved it once again.
