Reviews: Conservatoire's fine training really shows its worth

Friday's excellent Arup-sponsored concert from the Queen's Park Sinfonia was a heartening example of what exactly UCE Birmingham's New Generation Arts Festival is all about.

Not merely a showcase for the talents of young people studying in the city, it also offers a platform to display the skills of former students who are now making their way in the professional world, and this highly-accomplished orchestra boasts the abilities of many members who are the products of Birmingham Conservatoire's fine training.
On this occasion the QPS also had the benefit of having Daniele Rosina as its conductor, himself a Conservatoire alumnus who is surely poised to achieve great things in the music world. His beat is easy and clear, movements are understated but commanding, and the musical-ity of his insights into scores uncovers details which so often pass by unnoticed.

In a first half overloaded with D major, Rosina drew perfectly balanced, fresh and invigorating accounts of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Overture (one day I'm sure we'll see him conducting the whole opera) and Haydn's London Symphony. These personable young musicians won't mind me singling out the neat string ensemble for special praise.

Di Xiao, a prize-winning Conservatoire post-graduate pianist of awesome gifts, was soloist in the Schumann Concerto, her imperious opening flourish announcing a capacity for full, rich chording. But there was also flowing, rippling figuration as she revealed her instinctive grasp of this wonderful work, and she shared many limpid duets with Ciaran O'Donnell's mellow solo clarinet.

In her graceful, dancing finale it was easy to imagine Clara Schumann at the keyboard - Di Xiao's profile and demeanour uncannily close to those of the great lady herself.

Christopher Morley, 25 June 2007, © 2007 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd