Birtwistle at 80 — Gawain

This was a truly outstanding performance, thoroughly worthy of its standing ovation. The only problem now will be of upholding such standards throughout the Barbican’s Birtwistle at 80 series.

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, Glyndebourne 2014

Der Rosenkavalier opened Glyndebourne’s 80th anniversary season, dedicated to the memory of George Christie, who created country house opera as we know it today.

Barbiere Comes to Sin City

Professional opera returns to the Las Vegas Valley June 6th and 8th with performances of one of the best-known comic operas of all time, Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

La clemenza di Tito at Lyric Opera of Chicago

For its final production of the 2013-14 season Lyric Opera of Chicago featured Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito in a staging originating at the
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in co-production with the Théatre du Capitole de Toulouse and l’Opéra de Marseille.

Baden-Baden: Proficient Puccini as Easter Treat

Baden’s Easter Festival centerpiece was a solid production of Manon Lescaut that was well-intended, well-designed, and well-performed.

Amsterdam: Arabella’s New Water in Old Glasses

What a difference a venue and a cast can make!

The Marriage of Figaro, Royal Opera

“Oh! Woman! Woman! Woman!” So, cries Beaumarchais’s Figaro, in his
angry, self-chastising, at times self-pitying diatribe against the injustices
of ‘life’. “Oh, servants, servants, servants!” might be the Count’s
complaint in David McVicar’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro,
revived here for the sixth time.

StÈphane Degout, Wigmore Hall, London

Excellent Wigmore Hall recital with StÈphane Degout and Simon Lepper. Degout is one of the great names in French repertoire and in French baroque in particular.

Thebans: World Premiere at ENO

Julian Anderson’s Thebans at the Coliseum, London, absolutely justifies the ENO’s mission: opera, in English, and of national significance. Anderson is one of the most influential figures in modern British music.