 Opera Preview: Garsington Opera Preview 2013 There were those who wondered how long Garsington Opera would be able to continue and to survive when it finally had to depart Garsington Manor, a few years after the death of Garsington founder Leonard Ingrams in 2005, but they reckoned without the extraordinary loyalty – and fund-raising ability – of a core...more> |
 Opera Preview: Wasfi Kani in Conversation and Grange Park Opera's 2013 Season Anniversaries are in the air this year, with worldwide exposure of the greater (and lesser) operatic works of Britten, Verdi and Wagner everywhere, but at the Grange in Northington, a few miles north of Winchester where Grange Park Opera is preparing for its 16th annual opera festival...more> |
 Opera Interview: Lianna Haroutounian on the Royal Opera's Don Carlo Haroutounian prefers the five-act version of Don Carlo in Italian, but for an insightful dramatic reason: “The audience gets the complete experience of her story if there are five acts. In Fontainebleau, we see Elisabetta as a young, happy, brave girl; her main question in life is ‘will the prince love me?’ In an instant, she goes from this youthful euphoria, a representation of young love, to resignation as she embraces the gravity of her [public] role, her fate. The five-act version reveals the contrast between...more> |
 CD Review: Sony rereleases Classical Barbra with bonus tracks February 2013 saw the release of the newly remastered edition of Classical Barbra, a major cross-over album by pop star Barbra Streisand, including two previously unreleased tracks. Originally released in 1976, the album's production began three years earlier with Claus Ogerman at the helm in the roles of producer, arranger... more> |
 Opera Review: Puccini's La bohème returns to ENO One of the greatest strengths of Puccini’s La bohème is its sentimentality. But this is no run-of-the-mill sentimental sap, this is twilight-of-the-nineteenth-century-Italian sap, which means that those feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia are exacerbated not only by the self-indulgence typical of “feeling... more> |
 Opera Review: The Royal Opera honours Sir Colin Davis with The Magic Flute “Perchance to dream…” Hamlet’s soliloquy is difficult to forget whilst sitting through David McVicar’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; not for its metaphorical fluidity but rather for its literal connotations: the production is like a dream, but one that continually vacillates between joy and nightmare as the opera progresses. Is this too gratuitous? For once, there is...more> |
 Opera Review: A new Nabucco for Covent Garden in the Verdi bicentenary year What does Nabucco mean for the modern subject? Depending on the production, it’s safe to say that one of three major themes will be highlighted. In the near ubiquitous presence of the chorus, one finds the plight of exile in the face of extreme hardship or political brutality; a struggle for power and loyalty as illustrated by... more> |
 Opera Review: Written on Skin at the Royal Opera House In a 2010 article, the composer Christopher Fox suggested that successful models for the composition of opera--for the operatic marriage of drama, words and music--'grew out of a radical re-thinking of theatrical convention; new subjects demanded new dramatic modes'. In other words, in answer to the common... more> |
 Opera Review: Roberto Alagna features in Madama Butterfly at the Liceu Having seen productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly that often verge on the overtly political, it was refreshing to see the Leiser and Caurier production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, which essentially focuses on and fleshes out the dramatic tension inherent in the dénouement of the opera... more> |
 Opera Review: Medea at ENO Operatically speaking, the myth of the wronged woman and child murderess Medea has largely been filtered through Cherubini’s dramatic 1797 setting, especially since Maria Callas’s celebrated assumption of the role (not to mention her amazing, non-singing... more> |
 Opera Review: Rossini's The Barber of Seville returns to ENO Is Rossini’s Barber of Seville the quintessential opera buffa? In terms of its musical structure, plot (old man battles young, aristocratic fop over pretty rich girl and loses), and witty dénouement, perhaps. But “quitessential,” like “definitive,” always raises eyebrows these days... more> |
 Opera Review: Puccini's Tosca returns to Covent Garden In his magnum opus, À la recherche du temps perdu, Marcel Proust wrote that sadism is at the root of all melodrama. Although he was likely contemplating operatic tradition generally, was there a particular melodrama living in his memory as exemplar? Perhaps not, but his maxim aptly applies to one of the greatest melodramas of all... more> |
 Concert Review: Joyce DiDonato at the Barbican Joyce DiDonato is an international phenomenon. It is a status that owes much to an incredibly successful year. DiDonato won a Grammy in 2012; sped on in the early part of 2013 to a series of deeply committed performances of the rare Maria Stuarda at the Met; and recently embarked on a European tour compulsory after an international opera star records an album. The marketing department at Virgin Classics must... more> |
 Opera Review: Rigoletto Live from the Met There is an intriguing serendipity between the sharp dramatic irony of Verdi’s Rigoletto and Michael Mayer’s new, operatic debut production at the Met. Mayer’s transposition to 1960s Las Vegas, whilst not wholly original (Jonathan Miller did something similar at ENO in ... more> |
 Concert Review: The King's Singers perform religious a cappella music and and pop songs in Ann Arbor While many young University of Michigan couples spent their Valentine’s evening on dinner dates, nearly one thousand Ann Arborites found themselves at a rather unexpected venue on such an amorous holiday — a church sanctuary. Perhaps returning to the holy origins of Saint Valentine’s Day... more> |
 Reviews: Eugene Onegin at Covent Garden and La traviata at ENO "Triumph" and "Failure" are strong words to describe the impact of an opera performance. Both are bold and unambiguous; they leave little doubt about what "really happened" that night. Imaginations might easily run wild. But there is a problem in using words like these, adjectives that... more> |
 Opera Review: The Met's's Maria Stuarda comes to the UK on the big screen Maria Stuarda had trouble getting off the ground between 1834-35, the period it had its two premiers in Naples and Milan respectively. In pre-unified Italy, depicting royalty on-stage--especially royals who even by today's standards insult each other... more> |
 Opera Review: Birtwistle's The Minotaur returns to Covent Garden The Minotaur premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2008 and here, for its first revival over four years later, the three central singers made welcome returns to their respective roles. Pride of place must go to Sir John Tomlinson, who produced an astonishing singing... more> |
 Interview: Nicola Luisotti in conversation about his appointment as the new music director of the historic Teatro di San Carlo of Naples 'How do you say excited in Italian?' That is a question that came up during my conversation with maestro Nicola Luisotti. When speaking a language different than English, it is always difficult to find a term that implies what this one does – an emotional state, a high-level of energy... more> |
 Opera Review: Opera North's new production of Verdi's Otello Verdi’s lifelong project to reconcile the extremes of the national and the personal, the grand and the intimate, come to a head in his penultimate opera, Otello. His well-known passion for Shakespeare cannot have been the only motivation for his decision to return to composition with this piece: the internal tensions surrounding... more> |
 CD Review Roundup: Sony's Masterworks Broadway series features A Christmas Story, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and more Two brand new studio recordings and three varied reissues highlight the full-on dedication of Sony's Masterworks Broadway wing to the preservation of musical theatre. Spanning over sixty years of recordings... more> |
 CD Review Roundup: The new Broadway Records label offers Wildhorn, Osnes and Jonas Broadway Records is an exciting new record label with great potential. Launched last summer, the label is devoted to musical theatre repertoire and comprises cast albums from Broadway and Off-Broadway, new studio recordings and single-artist albums. In contrast to Sony's Masterworks Broadway... more> |
 Opera Review: The Royal Opera unveils a new production of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable When it premiered in 1831, Robert le diable was the world's first blockbuster; within five years of its first performance, Robert had already been mounted at the Paris Opera over 100 times and had traveled to London, Brussels, Berlin... more> |
 Opera Review: American Symphony Orchestra's concert performance of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda For many years, the excellent Collegiate Chorale and their frequent collaborators, the American Symphony Orchestra, have done admirable work in performing operatic rarities that would not otherwise be heard in New York City. Operaphiles wait eagerly for their annual offerings, and this year... more> |
 Opera Review: ENO revives Jonathan Miller's classic production of The Mikado The latest revival of Jonathan Miller's production of The Mikado for the English National Opera feels as fresh now as on its first outing over twenty-six years ago. This is a timeless production which could continue to delight audiences for years or, indeed, for decades to come.... more> |
 Opera Review: Montemezzi's La Nave receives a rare outing Fortune has been unkind to the opera Italo Montemezzi considered his masterpiece, the 1918 epic La Nave. At its successful prima in Milan, where Tullio Serafin conducted, critics gushed over it and audiences identified strongly with its nationalist... more> |
 Opera Review: A new Carmen from ENO There is no other opera in the canon--even one of Verdi's--that is quite as embedded in the collective imagination of Western culture as Bizet's Carmen. Everyone knows the habanera and Escamillo's anthem, and the idea of a femme fatale is still rehashed today in television and film. Much can be said (and much has been said).... more> |
 Opera Review: Vaughan Williams's The Pilgrim's Progress revived by English National Opera From the grave hymn tune with which it opens to the final radiant fade-out with which it concludes nearly two and a half hours later, Vaughan Williams' final stage work, more oratorio than opera, remains a problematic piece, offering contemporary audiences a Marmite-like... more> |
 Opera interview: Ruxandra Donose discusses English National Opera's new Carmen Although she looks unassuming enough, Ruxandra Donose exudes a certain air that screams passion. Perhaps it is her fierce Romanian heritage or her well-spoken demeanor that shines through most intensely... more> |
 Opera Review: Live telecast of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito from the Met The Roman Emperor Titus was by all accounts a forgiving man. At least when compared to the likes of Caligula, Nero and Commodus. But even Titus (or Tito, as he’s known in this opera) would have been hard-pressed to find anything in need of a pardon at the Met’s handsomely... more> |
 Opera Review: Live telecast of Adès' The Tempest from the Met In a 1963 episode of the expressionist television series The Twilight Zone, a desperate screenwriter uses black magic to summon Shakespeare to the present. The Met's new production of Thomas Adès's The Tempest, broadcast live from Lincoln Center last Saturday, brings the Bard and expressionism together once again — only the "dark arts".... more> |
 Concert Review: The Mariinsky Orchestra, Gergiev and Matsuev perform in Ann Arbor Exactly two years ago this month, Maestro Valery Gergiev introduced Ann Arbor to his compatriot and protégé, the young pianist Denis Matsuev. The pianist's performance of Rachmaninov's Third Concerto with the Mariinsky Orchestra... more> |
 Concert Review: Mark Elder conducts Donizetti's Belisario at the Barbican for Opera Rara Although it comes on the heels of his oft-performed Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti's Belisario is rarely performed in major venues outside of Italy despite its obvious strengths as a work bursting with musical and dramatic delights. This period of composition in Donizetti's oeuvre is... more> |
 Opera Review: Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis revived by English Touring Opera Bold, adventurous programming from ETO in their autumn tour this year saw two relative rareties on the operatic stage, The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies and The Emperor of Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann, coupled... more> |
 Opera Review: The ROH revives Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with Roberto Alagna Like a host of other Italian libretti of the period, Romani's libretto for Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore was the result of an adaptation of a pre-existing French source &ndash the rather slight text by Scribe for Auber's Le Philtre - to which it famously adds considerable pathos and... more> |
 Concert Review: Christopher Warren-Green leads the LCO in London The London Chamber Orchestra has a loyal following, a distinguished body of patrons and can be known to punch above its musical weight. For its second, and well-attended Cadogan Hall concert in the 2012/13 season, its charismatic conductor Christopher Warren-Green... more> |
 Concert Review: Bychkov and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra perform Wagner and Strauss at Carnegie Hall Richard Wagner, hiding out from the law (he had participated in a failed revolutionary coup) at the home of one of his benefactors, Otto Wesendonck, not only seduced the man's wife, the poetess Mathilde, but also romanced and eventually married his prominent... more> |
 Interview: Joyce DiDonato on I capuleti, the opera industry and 'the Olympics of the art world' American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to the San Francisco Opera this month as Romeo in I capuleti e i Montecchi. The SFO's audiences will remember her thrilling Rosina in the 2003-04 production of Il barbiere di Siviglia - a role she has... more> |
 Concert Review: Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in New York Extraordinary music was the feature of the two all-Brahms evenings by the London Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall this week. I happened to be in London when the announcement came that Valery Gergiev would be named as the new music director and shared the view... more> |
 Opera Review: Don Giovanni returns to ENO After so many productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni last season, this space has played host to my annoyance at the lack of productions of the opera unconcerned with morality. Is it really so much to ask that after 200 years we begin defamiliarizing the familiar? Imagine my surprise, then, when all along there was... more> |
 Interview: Nicole Cabell on San Francisco Opera’s I capuleti and the future of opera Californian-born soprano Nicole Cabell is fast becoming one of the most talked-about singers around. In 2005 she won the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, a success that launched her onto the international operatic circuit. Her most recent roles include Micaëla in Carmen... more> |
 Concert Review: Murray Perahia plays Haydn, Schubert, Chopin in Ann Arbor After witnessing the University of Michigan's 12-9 football victory over longtime rival Michigan State University on Saturday, Ann Arborites had a reason to celebrate. While sports fans crowded into local bars, another set of fans made their way... more> |
 Concert Review: Leonard Elschenbroich plays the Elgar Cello Concert with the Wroclaw Philharmonic The uprush of the strings to the first triumphant E flat major full orchestral chords of Elgar’s concert overture In the South normally tell you what sort of performance is in store. Elgar dedicated the piece to his friend and wealthy... more> |
 Concert Review: Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ann Arbor In May 1913, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra became the first ensemble to play in Ann Arbor's newly constructed Hill Auditorium. In honor of the concert hall's centennial season, the University Musical Society — Ann Arbor's premiere arts presenter — invited the CSO back to Hill to perform on Thursday... more> |
 Opera Review: A new production of Handel's Julius Caesar at ENO Händel’s Julius Caesar at the English National Opera is exciting theatre – not least because of the magnificent dancing of the Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre – but the production may need some getting used to. I attended last week’s dress rehearsal and was deeply unhappy with the concept... more> |
 Review Diary: Recent concert events in Budapest This concert formed part of a week of celebrations of Liszt in the Esztergom 'Vatican' – that is in the seat of the Archbishop of Esztergom – and it was organised for the fifth year by the Liszt Society. Liszt is mainly known by music lovers for his piano pieces and by few of his orchestral compositions... more> |
 Opera Review: The last-ever revival of Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute at ENO It is hard to argue with those who, from time to time, expect new productions of old masterpieces. New approaches to old works need to be considered to keep with the changing times and to keep great works alive. However, I for one find it shameful that Nicholas Hytner’s excellent production... more> |
 Opera Review: Mixed results from a new production of Martinu's Julietta at ENO Ah, reality. That oh-so-difficult-to-define concept that opera has never had a good relationship with, either in or out of the opera house (verismo being the case-in-point). Luckily, English National Opera has chosen an excellent production team to deal with the intricacies - and problems... more> |
 Proms Review: Prom 57 featured the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester Currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, Claudio Abbado’s acclaimed Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester is now almost as old as its most senior members. With its players drawn annually from among Europe’s most musically gifted young people, the orchestra’s first quarter-... more> |
 BBC Proms Review: Glyndebourne brings Le nozze di Figaro to the Proms It’s difficult to imagine a venue less like Glyndebourne’s warm, intimate opera house than the Royal Albert Hall. No singer-friendly wooden panelling here – just cavernous spaces and those aerial mushrooms. As we’ve seen time and time again, what suits a deluxe modern theatre doesn’t always transfer well elsewhere.... more> |
 BBC Prom Review: The John Cage Centenary is marked by an ambitious Prom Whatever one might say about the stodginess of Proms programming, it is undeniable that giving over a full evening Prom to a celebration of John Cage in his centenary year was a brave and commendable move from the BBC and Roger Wright. Even more commendable than this basic fact - which may after all have been accomplished with hedging of bets and fallings... more> |
 BBC Prom Review: Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in Prom 63 For the first of the Berlin Philharmonic’s two concerts at this year’s Proms, Simon Rattle put together a programme that erred very much on the side of substance as opposed to spectacle. Although composers such as Wagner, Ravel and Sibelius clearly have barnstormers and crowd-pleasers in their catalogues... more> |
 Proms Review: Proms 43 and 44 include the London Sinfonietta and Royal Philharmonic Despite the keyed up reception accorded the Royal Philharmonic and Charles Dutoit following their punchy but broad performance of Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony at the close, this Prom fell rather flat on the whole. The fault lay, chiefly, in the programming... more> |
 BBC Proms Review: Thierry Fischer conducts his final concert as the BBCNOW's Principal Conductor Berlioz’s 1837 Requiem is not for the musically faint-hearted. With its massive battery of percussion – in this performance at least 16 timpani were visible to the naked eye – and several pit bands’ worth of brass.... more> |
 Opera Review: A sensational Ravel double bill from Glyndebourne For the final new production of the 2012 Festival, Glyndebourne opted for a relative rarety in the operatic canon – the double bill of Ravel’s two one act operas, written fifteen years apart from each other and separated by the First World War. And what an emotional distance there is between them, L’Heure Espagnole.... more> |
 Proms Review: Proms 35 and 36 feature Scandanavian music followed by Ivor Novello The tribute, which took the form of a condensed, musically illustrated biography, was led by a warm and commanding narrator, Simon Callow, whose humorous, well-observed and tonally pitch perfect script provided the backbone to the Hallé Orchestra and Mark Elder’s spirited renderings of many of Novello’s most enduring songs... more> |
 BBC Proms Review: Thrilling results from Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven Cycle Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra’s Beethoven Proms marathon, in which the composer’s complete symphonies are being performed across five concerts, culminates on 27 July ... more> |
 Proms Review: Prom 34 features Semyon Bychkov with the BBCSO In the morning of 8th August 2012, on the day of this concert, the BBC Symphony Orchestra announced that Semyon Bychkov will join their roster of conductors with a position created especially for him by the orchestra. The title Günter Wand Conducting Chair was chosen in recognition of the affection... more> |
 Opera Review: The Bavarian State Opera's Der Rosenkavalier with Renee Fleming Unlike Wagner's late operas, which pay ever increasing dividends for the time invested, the inadequacies of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier become ever more apparent on repeated exposure. Hofmannsthal's wordy libretto is partly to blame: everything seems to continue on long after the dramatic and musical point has already been made. And when this is combined... more> |
 CD Review: The Word Unspoken from Signum The extraordinary nature of William Byrd’s life and the impact that it had on his music has been well documented on disc since the late 60s when, amongst others, Sir David Willcocks and The Choir of King’s College Cambridge recorded motets by Byrd And His Contemporaries (EMI 1965) and Cantores In Ecclesia directed.... more> |
 Proms Review: Prom 15 brings together Smetana and Dvorak with the BBCSO It was back in 1940 that the Hungarian born conductor George Szell orchestrated Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, ‘From My Life’ and later, in 1944, he included the piece in his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra. Within two years Szell was asked to become the orchestra’s music director and he held the post until his death in 1970. Szell and the CO recorded his Smetana... more> |
 Opera Review: OHP's Falstaff Verdi’s Falstaff is quite a tricky work to produce well and Opera Holland Park’s production proved that beyond a measurable doubt. It’s delicate blend of music and poignant—though, certainly at times, irreverent—perspective of the human condition ("Tutto nel mondo é burla") are a hallmark of Verdi’s final stroke of genius.... more> |
 Opera Review: Otello at Covent Garden Most agree that opera experienced a golden age in the latter half of the 20th century. It was a time when one went to the opera to hear very difficult works performed at the highest quality: singers had no problems projecting over the largest orchestras in the world and reaching the very back of the house. ... more>
|  Opera Review: The Bavarian State Opera's Turandot How do you solve a problem like Turandot? Perhaps by not trying to. Franco Alfano and more recently Luciano Berio have each attempted to complete the opera from the mass of sketches Puccini left at his death. But Alfano’s ending is felt by most to be too bombastic and Berio’s too out of keeping with the style of the rest. So, in Carlus Padrissa’s spectacular new production for Bavarian... more> |
 Opera Review: Lully's Armide at Glimmerglass Festival "It’s good to be the king," says a smug Mel Brooks famously while dressed as Louis XVI in the 1981 film comedy, History of the World, Part I. But for listeners brought up on a steady diet of da capo and bel canto arias from 18th and 19th-century operas, the seemingly endless drone of récitatifs and airs endemic to 17th-century... more> |
 Opera Review: Rolando Villazon in the Bavarian State Opera's Tales of Hoffmann Richard Jones often likes to take a risk or two, which means when his productions work they can be exceptional (the edgy Hansel and Gretel for WNO); but when they fail they can be excruciating (the nervous-laughter inducing Macbeth for Glyndebourne). Tales of Hoffmann, though, could almost have been written with... more> |
 Proms Review: Prom 11 showcases The Royal Opera's Les troyens There is no other opera that can legitimately match Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens for its sheer musical and dramatic ingenuity, creative prowess, and magnificent scale. Berlioz’s epic is genius: he wrote the libretto himself to create a truly unique work; an opera that is both loosely based on (Acts I and II and the end of V) and strictly conforming to (Acts III, IV, and V) Virgil’s... more> |
 Opera Review: Bryn Terfel in the Bavarian State Opera's Tosca Those beautiful Puccini arias that are the mainstay of opera compilation CDs are, of course, even better in the theatre. But it is the high stakes, life and death struggles, usually in the second act, usually between a bass and a soprano, where his operas earn their place in the repertory. He had an unerring gift for dramatic... more> |
 Proms Review: Rare Handel from Laurence Cummings and the OAE in Prom 8 Composed in 1746 and revised in 1750, surprisingly this performance was the Prom debut of Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus. Performances of this oratorio tend to be few and far between, yet in Handel’s lifetime – and throughout the 19th century as well as into the 20th century – it was highly regarded... more> |
 Musical Theatre Review: The Music Man at Glimmerglass Festival Composer Meredith Willson was so worried his listeners might miss words during the briskly paced patter ("talk-song") sections of The Music Man, he rigged a string of microphones that spanned the entire front floor of the stage... more> |
 Proms Review: Contrasting performances of French music in Prom 3 and Chamber Prom 1 As operas go, Debussy’s fin-de-siècle masterpiece Pélléas et Mélisande is anything but action-packed. Ranking alongside Wagner’s Tristan (man and woman fall – or already are – in love; later one or both die) and Poulenc’s La Voix humaine (woman makes phone call) at... more> |
 Opera Review: Mixed results from Glyndebourne's new Figaro Every new production of Figaro at Glyndebourne – and this is the ninth new production since 1934 – is a special event. Whether or not the spirit of la folle journée ... more> |
 Opera Review: Cape Town Opera's Porgy and Bess at the London Coliseum Cape Town Opera is showing Porgy and Bess in triple cast at the London Coliseum. Their cast lists for their performances state that 'Cast subject to change without prior notice'. Having not seen or heard any of Cape Town Opera's singers prior to the performance which I am reporting on... more> |
 Opera Review: Angela Gheorghiu in the Bavarian State Opera's La boheme Puccini’s La bohème might be classed as verismo, but it has little to do with the political aims of the original naturalist movement. Rather than confronting its well-heeled audiences with the true horror of working class squalor, the poverty here provides an exotic ... more> |
 Opera Review: The Queen of Spades at Grange Park Opera The ‘big’ opera mounted at Grange Park this year is a bold choice: if Eugene Onegin is a guaranteed box office hit, and is highly adaptable to the intimate spaces of summer opera venues like Iford and Stanley Hall Opera... more> |
 Opera Review: Stanley Hall Opera offers an intriguing double bill of Mozart and Leoncavallo There may be something catching in the air, but like a number of other venues in 2012 such as Glyndebourne and Holland Park, Stanley Hall Opera opted in its twelfth season for a double bill... more> |
| Opera Review: Mixed results from Glyndebourne's new Figaro Every new production of Figaro at Glyndebourne – and this is the ninth new production since 1934 – is a special event. Whether or not the spirit of la folle journée ... more> |
 Interview: Legendary bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in conversation about Verdi's Attila, operatic rarities, and his dream roles It is virtually impossible to summarize superstar bass Ferruccio Furlanetto's career: he is known to every opera lover for his signature roles of Verdi's Philip II, Fiesco, and Mozart's Leporello, among the countless characters... more> |
 Concert Review: A showcase concert for London Sinfonietta's Blue Touch Paper programme Blue Touch gives early-career composers the chance to work on music with the ensemble, which also arranges consultations with established composers, who in the past have included Gerald Barry, Olga Neuwirth, and Michael van der Aa.... more> |
 CD Review: Two Kairos releases of music by Friedrich Cerha and Unsuk Chin Last week Friedrich Cerha, who is now in his late eighties, was announced as the 2012 winner of the Ernst von Siemens music prize. Worth €200,000, the prize was awarded in recognition of... more> |
 Opera Review: A new production of Britten's Billy Budd at ENO Britten’s Billy Budd tells such a tragic tale that it is harrowing to experience even if one just reads the libretto (by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, adapted from the story by Herman Melville). There is no light relief at all in the story, which centres around the destruction of young Billy by the sadistic Claggart but also portrays cruelty as... more> |
 Interview: We chat to the cast of Nixon in China at the SF Opera The summer season at the San Francisco Opera started a couple of weeks ago, and audience and critics agree that Nixon in China, the famous first opera by John Adams, represents one of the highlights of the operatic summer. The SF Opera presented a sober and subtle production from the Vancouver Opera... more> |
 Opera Review: Luisotti and Furlanetto make Verdi's Attila shine This production of Attila at the San Francisco Opera represented one of the most precious operatic experiences for this particular member of the audience. The singers displayed an exceptional level of harmony with one another and with the orchestra. Moreover, maestro Nicola Luisotti's passionate reading of the score revealed one surprise after another... more> |
 CD review: The Schubert Ensemble performs Brahms and Schubert The Schubert Ensemble are highly regarded for their sensitive, musical performances of the piano plus strings repertoire – especially the Schubert and Brahms masterpieces. It is a real shame, then, that on these two discs they have been let down by poor recording.... more> |
 Opera Review: A Knussen double bill provides the perfect start to the Aldeburgh Festival The Artist in Residence at this year’s Aldeburgh Festival, the 65th, is a composer/conductor who has long associations with Aldeburgh and indeed shaped its artistic programme for a decade – Oliver Knussen. Knussen is 60 this... more> |
 Opera review: Cosi fan tutte at Opera Holland Park All six principal singers were excellent. They sounded ideal in their roles even though Dorabella’s soprano part was taken by mezzo-soprano Julia Riley (whose looks and singing style reminded me, rightly or wrongly, of a young Felicity Lott). Tenor Andrew Staples... more> |
 Concert Review: Florian Boesch at the Aldeburgh Festival The Austrian bass-baritone Florian Boesch has been making quite a name for himself in recent years, and when it was announced that he would step in at very short notice at the Aldeburgh Festival for an indisposed Matthias Goerne there were muffled whoops of... more> |
 CD Review: Paul McCreesh presents an impressive album of A Song of Farewell A Song of Farewell: Music of Mourning and Consolation is, in many ways, an aural discussion of death. While this description may sound depressing or daunting, the album presents, as the subtitle suggests, a comfort that poignantly complements the sadness. Though famed in the world of ... more> |
 Opera Review: Nixon in China successfully debuts at the San Francisco Opera On Friday 8 June, the San Francisco Opera presented the long-awaited Bay Area debut of Nixon in China, the first opera by one of the most acclaimed contemporary composers, John Adams. After twenty-five years since its premiere, this work by Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman remains equally controversial and popular. At the end of the performance... more> |
 Opera interview: British soprano Claire Rutter on Madama Butterfly at Grange Park Any regular operagoer in the UK over the last five years will have noticed the further ascent of that rare commodity - an English star soprano able to hold her own in almost any major role and in any major international company. Claire Rutter, now in the prime of her singing life (she is in her early forties) has garnered... more> |
 Review: Garsington takes on Vivaldi's Olympian L'Olimpiade L’Olimpiade, Metastasio’s libretto of 1733 – written 1340 years after the last of the ancient Olympic games – provides the text for a pastoral opera with the background of the Olympic games. It is a play set in green outdoors with aristocratic characters, one of whom is disguised as a shepherdess. What better setting for such an opera than the new Wormsley... more> |
 CD Review: Naive releases L'Olimpiade by a range of composers As the 2012 Olympics approach, London is bedecked with nationalist symbolism not only for the games but for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee which would appear to have provoked us, as a nation, to rejoice in a nostalgic revisiting of 1950s taste. Whereas coronation favourites such as teacakes and sponge... more> |
 CD Review: The Florestan Trio records Beethoven's Piano Trios on Hyperion Just a few months ago, after sixteen successful years together the Florestan Trio gave their last concerts in London. Now Anthony Marwood (violin), Richard Lester (cello) and Susan Tomes (piano) are each off exploring fresh musical pastures. So this four-disc boxed set of the Beethoven Trios, each released individually... more> |
 CD Review: Vivaldi's Teuzzone features in a dazzling recording from Naive Teuzzone is the twelfth opera in naïve’s Vivaldi Edition’s series and, incidentally, the first new release by Jordi Savall (Farnace was first previously on Alia Vox). The opera belongs to a period of Venetian obsession with exoticism and chinoiseries influenced by the city’s trading links... more> |
 Review: David McVicar's production of Salome returns to Covent Garden It may not matter a great deal in the large scheme of things, but I am puzzled by an arguably small change between Richard Strauss' score of Salome and stage director David McVicar's realisation. In the score the executioner is not listed among the roles although he is referred to in the German stage directions... more> |
 Opera Review: Glanert's Caligula comes to ENO Detlev Glanert’s opera on Albert Camus’ 1944 play Caligula, with a libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel,premiered to great acclaim in Frankfurt in 2006. Caligula’s first UK production opened at the Coliseum last night in a new staging by much-admired theatre director Benedict Andrews... more> |
 Editorial: San Diego Opera presents a benefit concert featuring Renée Fleming and announces 2012-13 season
The global economic climate has been chilly for enough years now that the persistent financial struggle for arts organizations is no longer big news. Regional opera companies and symphony orchestras have folded all across the United States, with even long-established... more> |
 Opera Review: American Symphony Orchestra and Collegiate Chorale perform a rare Notre Dame by Schmidt Founded in 1962, the American Symphony Orchestra ranks as one of the most important contributors to the classical music scene in New York. Under the leadership of Leon Botstein, the ASO offers thematic series of concerts that highlight the connections between... more> |
 Editorial: Opera Holland Park's new season offers rarities and favourites Opera Holland Park continues to surprise its diverse audience with eclectic offerings; indeed, the company’s egalitarian spirit and focus on both popular and obscure (mostly Italian and especially versimo) operas has certainly brought the genre to a larger, younger audience whilst still catering for aficionados. To successfully... more> |
 Opera Review: Nelly Miricioiu celebrates her 60th birthday with Donizetti's Maria Padilla Such was the display of vocal dexterity from Nelly Miricioiu as Maria and Marianne Cornetti as Ines in the Chelsea Opera Group’s performance of Maria Padilla that by the end, it almost felt like the Olympics had come early. This extraordinary but almost unknown opera from Donizetti’s maturity... more> |
 Editorial: My Fair Lady and Les troyens amongst the rich pickings of the Olympic Proms season While the country's sportspeople prepare to gather for the London Olympics, there's also a sense of the "Best of British" about the BBC Proms season, announced today. Gilbert and Sullivan, Ivor Novello... more> |
 Opera Review: A new Falstaff for Covent Garden Verdi’s final opera is a consummate blend of comedy, shades of melodrama, and self-parody. It takes a truly disciplined production to manifest some of these associations, and Robert Carson’s crowd pleaser at the Royal Opera takes great strides toward this difficult goal. It helped, though, that the singers... more> |
 Concert Review: Jordi Savall at the Lufthansa Festival With his ensemble Le Concert des Nations – named after Couperin’s unification of European styles in his innovative collection Les nations – the grand old man of baroque Jordi Savall emphasizes a variety of baroque styles within the communality of high quality music making... more> |
 Concert Review: John Butt presents another riveting evening at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music Some 24 hours after the British summer officially began the sunshine was streaming into St John’s Smith Square for an all-Bach program from much-loved Scottish baroque specialists, The Dunedin Consort and their charismatic director, John Butt. This year’s festival is titled... more> |
 Editorial: We talk to Wasfi Kani as she prepares to open Grange Park Opera's 15th season With three weeks to go, rehearsals in full swing and a plethora of tasks to complete and conundrums great and small to resolve before the curtain goes up for opening night of the 15th Grange Park Opera festival... more> |
 Concert Review: Stephane Deneve says farewell to the RSNO So Scotland bids adieu to Stéphane Denève. After seven years of lighting up Scottish concert life, he bowed out in a blaze of glory, fêted by politicians, diplomats, business leaders, fellow artists, and the loyal audience that he has built during his... more> |
 Opera review: Madam Butterfly at ENO There are certain operas in the canon that mysteriously need nothing else except their music to successfully compel audiences. As one of the most consistently performed since its (fifth) revision, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly certainly ranks within this selection— however ironically since operas are by nature more than "just music."... more> |
 Concert Review: Stephane Deneve with the RSNO Long after memories of this concert melt into the general filing system, people will remember the encore that the Canadian virtuoso James Ehnes performed tonight: Paganini's famous caprice no. 24. It is hard to think of another work that says ‘look upon my encore, o ye mortals... more> |
 Concert review: The Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Jakub Hrusa Most of the buzz about Gramophone Magazine's 'ten conductors on the verge of greatness', published this time last year, seems to have been generated by Gramophone Magazine. Maybe that's because, being behind a paywall, their content doesn't get linked to – and links are what make internet ... more> |
 Concert Review: Beethoven with the SCO Although he met with little success in the opera house, there is quite a substantial body of work for the theatre in Beethoven’s catalogue. Most of the time, all we hear in the concert-hall are the overtures, but the SCO’s choral season finale presented a welcome opportunity to ... more> |
 Opera review: La boheme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Productions of Puccini’s works these days inevitably raise questions about operatic realism or, as it’s more commonly known, verismo. At first glance, operatic realism doesn’t appear to be a very complicated issue. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, composers and librettists (of the giovane scoula)... more> |
 Opera Review: Wagner's Flying Dutchman at ENO Oscar Wilde famously said of The Old Curiosity Shop: 'One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without dissolving into tears ... of laughter'. The same might be said of The Flying Dutchman where, in one of the... more> |
 Editorial: Walt Disney becomes the subject of new opera for ENO English National Opera announced its 2012-2013 season this morning and, as one might expect, it is typical of the company: bold, innovative, and "risky." John Berry, the artistic director, additionally emphasized the family values (if you will) of the company, highlighting the many artists that will be returning to give a little back to the institution responsible for nurturing their careers... more> |
 Opera review: The London Premiere of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach at the Barbican As operas go, Einstein on the Beach is a rich and strange one. No real characters, no plot, no narrative, no climaxes, no arias, no dialogue, no comedy, no tragedy – and... more> |
 Opera review: Willy Decker's Traviata at the Met starring Dessay Willy Decker wasn't the first man to try and gain a better perspective of the courtesan Violetta by examining what lay beneath the iconic red dress. But I have to wonder whether the German director's psychological undressing of the heroine in the present Met production has uncovered anything more revealing than his predecessors... more> |
 Opera Review: A rare performance of Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione by Gotham Chamber Opera Il sogno di Scipione (The Dream of Scipio) was the fifth of Mozart's operas, composed (unbelievably) when he was 16. The libretto was written by Pietro Metastasio, after Cicero. It was presumably first performed... more> |
 Opera review: The European Premiere of Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest at the Barbican There may be some who, on hearing that the new opera by Gerald Barry is an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's landmark comic play, would give it a wide berth. Barry's music can be notoriously spiky and unpredictable; Wilde's text on the other hand is... more> |
 Opera Review: The Collegiate Chorale perform The Mikado The Mikado is possibly one of the most frequently-played operettas world-wide. This season there was a new production at the Gärtnerplatz in Munich, among other venues. The reasons for its enduring popularity are not difficult to fathom... more> |
 Opera Review: Sir Colin Davis conducts Weber's Der Freischutz with the LSO Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz was sensational at its première in 1821 and quickly became an international phenomenon rivaled only by the operas of Rossini. Although Freischütz was in several respects anticipated by Louis Spohr’s Faust and E.T.A. Hoffman’s Undine... more> |
 Opera Review: La Fille du Regiment returns to Covent Garden with a new cast Laurent Pelly's 2007 production of La Fille Du Régiment, now at its second revival at the Royal Opera House, is delightful entertainment... more> |
 Concert Review: Christian Curnyn leads the SCO and Nicola Benedetti in The Four Seasons For the Vivaldi concerto Curnyn was joined by Nicola Benedetti, a picture of elegance in an ooh-I-say vermilion silk gown on a classically Grecian theme. Undoubtedly her very attractive stage presence is part of her appeal. By all accounts... more> |
 Interview Feature: We chat to General Director of Glyndebourne, David Pickard, as the 2012 season gets underway We caught up with David Pickard, General Director at Glyndebourne, to ask for his take on the forthcoming season. He sees it as a season of old favourites... more> |
 Opera Review: A gay reworking of Don Giovanni at London's Heaven nightclub Opera houses and nightclubs have more in common than one might think. In nineteenth-century Italy, it was common for Austrian authorities to take an interest in the programming of many houses, simply because a large part of the educated population congregated there and could be easily observed. Of course, these days systems of power are further decentralized and... more> |
Editorial: My Fair Lady and Les troyens amongst the rich pickings of the Olympic Proms season While the country's sportspeople prepare to gather for the London Olympics, there's also a sense of the "Best of British" about the BBC Proms season, announced today. Gilbert and Sullivan, Ivor Novello... more> |
 Concerts Review: Daniel Barenboim returns to the Festival Hall for his Bruckner cycle After Beethoven, and Beethoven and Schoenberg, Daniel Barenboim's latest project at the South Bank Centre features another 'B', albeit one whose centrality in the repertory is still not quite secure: Bruckner. In three concerts, he and his Staatskapealle Berlin are presenting his final three symphonies, and in this first one... more> |
 Concert Review: Vadim Gluzman performs a rarity with the BBCSO Full marks to the BBC SO for programming Balys Dvarionas's Violin Concerto and thus facilitating its timely UK premiere. Statistics are not on hand but it is likely that, although composed in 1948, this unjustly neglected work still awaits its premiere... more> |
 Musical Review: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream at the New York City Center Pipe Dream, which opened at the Shubert Theatre in the winter of 1955, is the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that preceded the TV spectacular, Cinderella, and Broadway's Flower Drum Song (1957). Based on the John Steinbeck story Sweet Thursday, the material, with its drifters... more> |
 Concert Review: Varga and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Bronfman perform Mendelssohn, Bartok and Stravinsky Georg Solti, a Hungarian who lived a good part of his life in London, once televised a demonstration that was quite revelatory. He sat at the piano and played the orchestral beginning of Duke Bluebeard's Castle, which sounded as we have become accustomed to hearing it... more> |
 Opera Review: A rare outing for Jakob Lenz at ENO During ENO’s new production of Wolfgang Rihm’s chamber opera Jakob Lenz (1977-8), Andrew Shore, putting in an impressive turn in the title role, ends up getting dunked in an onstage pool of water no fewer than four times. New director on the block, Sam Brown, though, has good artistic reasons for this treatment of his more experienced leading man. The source for... more> |
 Editorial: Musical diversity in Budapest Established in 1853, the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra is Hungary's oldest functioning orchestra. Drawn from musicians of the Hungarian State Opera, for many years it was Hungary's only professional orchestra. They worked with such distinguished composer-conductors... more> |
 Opera Review: Soile Isokoski and Alice Coote in Der Rosenkavalier in Geneva Some forty years after its creation for the Bavarian State Opera, Otto Schenk's production of Der Rosenkavalier has found its way to Geneva Opera, where it will play in repertoire until 12 April. If there is relatively little new to say about a vintage production... more> |
 Concert Review: Olga Borodina joins Valery Gergiev for the Verdi Requiem Verdi's Messa da Requiem is undoubtedly a religious work, significantly different from his operas, notably in terms of structure, texture, and style. Written to commemorate the death of the Italian patriot Alessandro... more> |
 Opera Interview: Gerald Barry talks about his latest opera, The Importance of Being Earnest On a sunny Friday morning in London I meet Gerald Barry to discuss his latest opera, The Importance of Being Earnest. Earnest has its UK premiere at the Barbican on 26 April, performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Tom Adès... more> |
 Editorial: What does the pre-Britten centenary Aldeburgh Festival have on offer? Little acorns and mighty oaks… as the countdown to the 65th Aldeburgh Festival progresses, in the relative calm of 2012 before the storm of Benjamin Britten's music that will resonate all around the world in 2013, the centenary of Britten's birth... more> |
 Opera Review: Rigoletto with John Eliot Gardiner in the pit at Covent Garden Since its première in 1851, Verdi’s Rigoletto has remained an audience favorite for its catchy tunes and poignant treatment of a captivating story, one that resonates strongly even today. Often hailed as a revolutionary step "forward" in Verdi’s oeuvre, Rigoletto weaves several... more> |
Interview Feature: We chat to General Director of Glyndebourne, David Pickard, as the 2012 season gets underway We caught up with David Pickard, General Director at Glyndebourne, to ask for his take on the forthcoming season. He sees it as a season of old favourites... more> |
 Concert Review: Joseph Swenson returns to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Making one of his welcome visits as conductor emeritus, the SCO’s former principal conductor Joseph Swensen brought his characteristically ebullient and passionate personality to this thoughtfully assembled programme with its dancing thread... more> |
 Opera Review: Rameau's Acante et Céphise Operatic “special occasion” pieces usually die with their final curtain call, though the most notable exception is probably Rossini’s Il viaggo a Reims, which stubbornly persists to this day. Interestingly, University College Opera (which has a long history of performing rare or new works) mounted a production... more> |
| Concert Review: Murray Perahia plays Bach, Schubert and Chopin at Avery Fisher Hall The 250 years since the death of Johann Sebastian Bach have been the most revolutionary in human history, so it is not that surprising to realize that the music that he composed is a considerable distance from that which we hear today. Even the best efforts... more> |
 Opera News: Covent Garden announces details of the 2012-13 season The Royal Opera announced its “revival focused” 2012/2013 season this morning, with six new productions, a star-studded roster, and some promising revelations. The ebullient Director of Opera Kasper Holten (with Associate Director John Fulljames) have planned quite... more> |
 Opera Review: Judith Weir's disappointing new Miss Fortune Whenever I see a new opera, I play a game. I simply ignore entirely the programme notes and synopsis. Often, this little bit of fun allows me to recapture the excitement of audience members past. To witness a new work in all its glory, experience the plot twists and turns, the text, and the music in the... more> |
 Advertisement: Musical Criticism announces vacancies for contributing writers and opera editor The vacancies are open to applicants based in any geographical location where there are regular professional concerts to review. No particular geographical location has priority: whether you're based in Glasgow or Cardiff, San Diego or Shanghai...more> |
 Opera Review: The Guildhall's Midsummer Night's Dream The last outing of Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream on the London opera stage seemed to be more concerned with the composer's sexuality than with his witty masterpiece based on Shakespeare's play (May 2011, English National Opera). Once bitten twice shy, thus one could be forgiven for being slightly worried about other... more> |
 Opera Review: English National Opera's Death of Klinghoffer John Adams' and Alice Goodman's 1991 opera The Death of Klinghoffer has been trailed by controversy throughout its twenty-one year history. Scheduled performances at Glyndebourne and the Los Angeles Opera were cancelled after the stormy reception the opera received following its 1991 New York... more> |
 Opera Review: Ernani live from the Met Undoubtedly for some, seeing opera live in cinemas is quite enjoyable. As I reclined in my large seat and munched on some popcorn at my nearest local cinema (Curzon Chelsea), I wondered if displaced opera was the way of the future. After all, there are serious advantages to watching opera in a cinema... more> |
 Editorial: The Maestro myth? The Royal Opera recently announced that it would be furthering its collaboration with the BBC by playing host to the television reality/contest show 'Maestro.' In contrast to the first season of the show, there will be only... more> |
 Concert Review: Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic perform Mahler at Carnegie Hall In his three year tenure at Carnegie Hall, Mahler only selected from his own work his first two symphonies, even though he had seven (and later eight) from which to choose. He had been stung before by bad critical receptions and exhibited in New York a rather uncharacteristic timidity in choice... more> |
 Interview: Vivica Genaux chats about her American tour and her new music ensemble Mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux maintains a schedule of performances that reflects a great deal of intellectual curiosity. Given her status as one of the most sought-after Baroque specialists, she has not chosen to remain content with a handful of roles, like many other singers tend to do once... more> |
 Opera Review: Rusalka comes to Covent Garden for the first time Rusalka has finally made it to Covent Garden, but, in Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito's wilfully shabby production, it has arrived in inexpressive and unlovely form. The boos and countering cheers that greeted the directorial team at the curtain—even though this was branded a new production, it was first seen in Salzburg in 2008... more> |
 Concert Review: Mark Elder conducts Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet Hector Berlioz was not generally a reticent composer, least of all when it came to pronouncing on the value of his own music and the attention it deserved. Writing about his 1839 ‘symphonie dramatique’ Roméo et Juliette he insisted: “The work is enormously difficult to perform... more> |
 Opera Review: Raymond Gubbay's Aida at the Royal Albert Hall Verdi's Aida is extremely intertextual. Conditioned by the historical events surrounding its première and, as an inevitable product of nineteenth-century Orientalism, scholars have fruitfully mined it for decades for both its historical and critical significance. The new production at the Royal Albert Hall... more> |
 Opera Review: A stellar cast introduces Richard Jones' new production of Tales of Hoffmann to ENO Co-produced with the Bavarian State Opera and recently performed by that company, English National Opera now stages Richard Jones's take on Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. Without doubt, the staging is entertaining and also thought provoking. However, perhaps some of Jones's messages... more> |
 Opera Review: Silent Opera performs La boheme in the Old Vic Tunnels Silent Opera present La Bohème in the series of linked rooms that form the complex of tunnels under the approach to Waterloo Station. Trains rumble and clatter overhead, the venue shakes and echoes but - or so runs the concept, as set out in the programme blurb - you "walk around with a... more> |
 Concert Review: Vivica Genaux performs Vivaldi with Europa Galante Living in a city as rich in musical diversity as New York, it's easy to become slightly blasé about the wealth of opportunities for hearing classical music in live performance. Therefore, it was an uncommon thrill to be present when Fabio Biondi and his superb ensemble Europa Galante took the stage and... more> |
| For older articles (2007-12), click here. |
