It is always a privilege to experience the beauty of the gothic masterpiece that is Washington National Cathedral, and doubly so with music. The space itself is only enhanced by…
Rinaldo Sallies Forth at the Royal Academy of Music
Some of the most life-affirming opera in London can be enjoyed in the regular productions at the city’s conservatories. First and foremost, they provide a showcase and valuable experience for…
It Doesn’t Always Have to be Cav and Pag: A Bartók and Zemlinsky Double Bill Plus a Song Cycle in Hamburg
How long does an opera need to be? How long is a piece of string? On being asked for his favourite opera Sir Thomas Beecham instantly replied, La Bohème. Why…
Gangsta Salome: Richard Strauss in Bethnal Green
Perhaps fittingly, there is an establishment by the name of “Satan’s Whiskers” a mere one-minute walk from York Hall. Richard Strauss’s Salome is a visceral juxtaposition of the good (or…
The Last Laugh of a Liberated Woman: La traviata at the New National Theatre Tokyo
The fact that La traviata has been historically known in Japan as Tsubaki-hime (The Camellia Princess), involves a misleading conception. The suffix -hime suggests a delicate, well-born maiden rather than…
Two Easter Messages from Jordi Savall in Hamburg
The Christian calendar regards Easter as its acme, for the message is all about the Resurrection. Though it is a movable feast and therefore not linked to a particular date,…
An ‘authentic’ Rigoletto in Paris
Concert performances are often seen as pale imitations of the real thing, only one step behind that nebulous term, ‘semi-staged’. And yet, sometimes they remain memorable in their own right:…
Kosky’s Royal Opera House Ring Continues with Incisive Simplicity in Siegfried
Having set up his themes in the previous instalments of the Ring in the Royal Opera’s past two seasons, Barrie Kosky relaxes a little in Siegfried, the cycle’s third part,…
The Last Castrato Visits the Palace of Versailles
This concert, a tribute to the castrato Giovanni Battista Velluti (1780 –1861), packed both a theatrical and musical punch. Of course, the venue, the sumptuously decorated Salon d’Hercule in the…
Voices from Finland: Wennäkoski and Sibelius
There are few composers who have had quite the influence on their fellow compatriots as Sibelius has had on his. Whether it is the effect of the music itself, or…