Sir Maestro comes first at the Wigmore Hall

A quiz question: which music director of the Royal Opera House has played a recital at the Wigmore Hall?

Think back.

Not Bernard Haitink; never seen at a keyboard.

Not Colin Davis; he played clarinet.

Not Solti (we think)…. though he did revert to the piano late in life, playing four-hand Mozart with Murray Perahia.

Not Rafael Kubelik or Karl Rankl.

In that case…. drum roll… Sir Antonio Pappano will be the first serving chief at Covent Garden to play the Wigmore when he opens the new season with …. second drum roll…. Dame Joyce DiDonato (the damehood is in the mail).

Nice one, Tony.

In other news, tickets for the Wigmore’s new seasons, released this morning, are selling at 1,000 an hour.

Season highlights include:

Joyce DiDonato and Sir Antonio Pappano in the opening concert

Maria João Pires Portrait Series

The Mozart Odyssey

Henry Purcell: A Retrospective celebrates the ‘British Orpheus’

Paul Lewis: A Celebration

Pavel Haas Quartet Bohemia

Introducing Igor Levit

Florian Boesch Residency

Composer Focus – Wolfgang Rihm