 Opera Review: John Eliot Gardiner conducts Simon Boccanegra at the ROH In a Royal Opera season that's had its share of withdrawals and replacements, this revival of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra hasn't escaped. Several months ago it was announced that Nina Stemme, who was to have played Amelia, had decided not to add the role to her repertoire and shortly before this... more> |
 Opera Review: Susan Graham excels in La clemenza di Tito (New York Met) There are many reasons to see the Met's current revival of La clemenza di Tito, but by far the best is Susan Graham's performance as Sesto. Returning to Mozart after a period dominated by French repertoire, Graham triumphed. Her rendition of 'Parto, parto' in the first act brought an electricity to the night... more> |
 Opera Review: Placido Domingo in Tamerlano (Washington) More than forty years after his American debut, opera superstar Placido Domingo shows few signs of slowing down and just over a month ago in Madrid he added the role of Bajazet in Handel's Tamerlano to his repertoire, a rare foray into Baroque territory for him. Only a few weeks later, he has brought the work to Washington Opera. more> |
 Concert Review: Ivan Fischer & the Budapest Festival Orchestra play Mahler The genesis of Ivan Fischer's orchestra shares similar features with
Mikhail Pletnev's Russian National Orchestra. Both had to fight against the leaden indifference of a state-run apparatchik system that permeated even the world of art. Both found a powerful sponsor to help them. Without Kodaly's support, always a... more> |
 Concert Review: Roberto Alagna sings Verdi with the LSO (Barbican) It's perfectly normal to complain about concerts of Wagner's music as being made up of 'bleeding chunks', where audience and performers lose track of the music's dramatic context. Here, Roberto Alagna and the LSO under Ion Marin made it clear that it's rare that any opera composer benefits from this sort of treatment.... more> |
 Opera Review: Amanda Roocroft and Alfie Boe star in Lehár's The Merry Widow (ENO) With its new production of The Merry Widow, the English National Opera provides a rare treat. Artistic achievement at a very high level and joyous entertainment combine to satisfy mind and soul. And thanks to Franz Lehár's wonderful melodies, one leaves the opera house smiling and singing the tunes... more> |
 CD Review: Lionel Monckton: Songs from the Shows (Hyperion) Edwardian musical comedy has not aged well. Despite its composers' often-skilful marriage of operetta aesthetics with the hardy tunes and themes of music hall, the genre consistently fails to find favour in contemporary society. In stark contrast to the still wildly popular Savoy Operas that it grew out of, and the American and British... more> |
 Concert Review: Joshua Bell joins the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra in Mendelssohn (Dublin) Avery Fisher Prize winner Joshua Bell made a welcome return to the National Concert Hall, Dublin for a second appearance in their International Concert Series. Currently on a demanding tour, Bell gave an accomplished performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64...more> |
 Opera Review: World Premiere of Birtwistle's The Minotaur at the Royal Opera House The premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's long awaited new opera The Minotaur, written in collaboration with the poet David Harsent, was given on Tuesday to a packed Royal Opera House where the sense of occasion and of expectation was palpable and potent. It was a pleasure to be in attendance and to... more> |
 Concert Review: Sarah Connolly sings Dido with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh (Wigmore Hall) The grand surroundings of the famous Wigmore Hall buzzed in anticipation of this visit one of today's finest Early Music ensembles, the Gabrieli Consort. Despite the small number of players, there seemed to be quite a squeeze on stage. And as if this wasn't bad enough, eight singers... more> |
 Interview: Amanda Roocroft on singing The Merry Widow, Jenufa & Peter Grimes at ENO As some welcome light relief after a month's worth of contemporary operas by Birtwistle and Neuwirth, English National Opera will open a new production of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow on 26 April. A perennial favourite with audiences, the operetta brings together veteran director John Copley... more> |
 Opera Review: Birtwistle's Punch and Judy at the Young Vic (ENO) Harrison Birtwistle's first opera, Punch and Judy, is a music theatre work of utmost vitality, and violence. Written and premiered all of forty years ago, it is a piece that can still express the vigour of creative beginnings, that can still show the energy and brazenness of youth. Whereas Birtwistle's most recent work, The Minotaur, exhibited... more> |
 Opera review: Angela Gheorghiu and Ramon Vargas in La boheme at the Met The Met is at its best when showcasing one of its traditional, large-scale, lavish productions, as the professional sheen of this revival of La bohème proved. Franco Zeffirelli's production dates from 1981 but the three massive, realistic sets are still as eye-catching as ever and made for a sure-fire crowd-pleaser... more> |
 Concert Review: Gergiev leads the LSO in Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony (Barbican) Valery Gergiev's Mahler cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra seems now to be taking shape and this thrilling account of the 'Resurrection' Symphony, heard on the second of two consecutive evening performances, bore many of the hallmarks that have distinguished the series so far: dramatic, driven... more> |
 Opera Review: Christopher Hogwood conducts the AAM in Handel's Flavio (Barbican) The Academy of Ancient Music's one-off performance of Handel's opera Flavio at the Barbican was a complete sell out. Packed to the rafters, the audience buzzed with excitement, waiting for the slightly altered line-up; Sandrine Piau was replaced at the last minute by Karina Gauvin... more> |
 Opera review: Thomas Hampson and Marcello Giordani in Ernani at the Met A standing ovation greeted the four principals on the closing night of this revival of Ernani, and apart from anything else it served to underline just how well the Met had served Verdi in casting the parts with big dramatic voices. And as a regular attendee of Covent Garden, it was interesting to see that the musical... more> |
 Interview: Johan Reuter stars in The Minotaur at the ROH Perhaps the biggest event on the international opera scene this year is the world premiere on 15 April of The Minotaur, Sir Harrison Birtwistle's new opera, at Covent Garden. Making a welcome return to the Royal Opera after his acclaimed debut as Wozzeck in 2006 is Danish bass-baritone Johan Reuter, who will play the part of Theseus. more> |
 Opera News: English National Opera announces 2008/09 season Details have been announced for the opening productions of ENO 's 2008-09 season, providing a broad range of repertoire including new productions of Cav and Pag, Handel's Partenope and, in his anniversary year, Vaughan Williams's rarely-heard Riders to the Sea. Peter Rose will take on the title role in Boris Godunov ... more> |
 Concert Review: Kremer joins Pletnev and the RNO in Sibelius & Beethoven (Baden-Baden) It would take the multilingual erudition as a master of musical aesthetics of a Gidon Kremer or a Mikhail Pletnev, turning his visions into magic performances as a virtuoso and conductor, adequately to find words to describe this concert. These two stars, so unwilling to play the role... more> |
 Opera review: Cecilia Bartoli in La Sonnambula in Baden-Baden The fact that Cecilia Bartoli chose this concert performance of La Sonnambula as her debut in singing Amina, speaks highly for the accompanying Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble and its founder and director Thomas Hengelbrock. Both Bartoli and Hengelbrock, an eminent specialist in early opera... more> |
 Opera review: Nina Stemme in Der Rosenkavalier with Zurich Opera (RFH) A month and a half before David McVicar's new production of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier opens at the English National Opera, the forces of Zurich Opera under Franz Welser-Möst treated a packed Royal Festival Hall to a concert performance of the work of considerable refinement and quality... more> |
 Concert Review: BBCSO under John Storgårds in Brett Dean and Sibelius (Barbican) Shakespeare was, to the unsuspecting or unknowing mind, the common theme that united the BBC Symphony Orchestra's engaging concert on Friday night at the Barbican. In an interesting piece of programming, Brett Dean's clarinet concerto Ariel's Music was paired with a... more> |
 Opera news: ROH announces Fleming, Terfel, Alagna for 2008-09 The Royal Opera has announced details of the 2008-09 season at London's Covent Garden. The new productions include Cavalli's La Calisto, Rossini's Matilde di Shabran with Juan Diego Florez, Hansel und Gretel with Angelika Kirchschlager, Korngold's Die todte Stadt with Gerald Finley, Wagner's Der fliegende Hollander with Bryn Terfel... more> |
 Classical News: Proms 2008 announced Details have been announced for BBC Proms 2008 which run from 18 July to 13 September. It is the 114th season and the first under the festival's new Director, Roger Wright. The headlines are likely to draw attention to the Doctor Who Prom on the morning of 27 July, which features music from the TV series, and is followed in the evening... more> |
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Opera Interview: Jonas Kaufmann on singing his first Cavaradossi in Tosca at the ROH German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has taken his place amongst the world's operatic superstars in the last few years, with memorable appearances at Covent Garden in Carmen, La traviata and La rondine, for instance. We chat to him about his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca on Monday, his plans to record Madama Butterfly with Angela Gheorghiu, his attitude to singing a wide range of operatic roles and Lieder rather than specialising, and much more. more>