A new recording, made late last year, Morfydd Owen : Portrait of a Lost Icon, from T? Cerdd, specialists in Welsh music, reveals Owen as one of the more distinctive voices in British music of her era : a grand claim but not without foundation. To this day, Owen’s tally of prizes awarded by the Royal Academy of Music remains unrivalled.
Month: March 2017
Enchanting Tales at L A Opera
On March 24, 2017, Los Angeles Opera revived its co-production of Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann which has also been seen at the Mariinsky Opera in Leningrad and the Washington National Opera in the District of Columbia.
Ermonela Jaho in a stunning Butterfly at Covent Garden
Ermonela Jaho is fast becoming a favourite of Covent Garden audiences, following her acclaimed appearances in the House as MimÏ, Manon and Suor Angelica, and on the evidence of this terrific performance as Puccini’s Japanese ingÈnue, Cio-Cio-San, it’s easy to understand why. Taking the title role in the first of two casts for this fifth revival of Moshe Leiser’s and Patrice Caurier’s 2003 production of Madame Butterfly, Jaho was every inch the love-sick 15-year-old: innocent, fresh, vulnerable, her hope unfaltering, her heart unwavering.
Brave but flawed world premiere: Fortress Europe in Amsterdam
Calliope Tsoupaki’s latest opera, Fortress Europe, premiered
as spring began taming the winter storms in the Mediterranean.
New Sussex Opera: A Village Romeo and Juliet
To celebrate its 40th anniversary New Sussex Opera has set itself the challenge of bringing together the six scenes – sometimes described as six discrete ‘tone poems’ – which form Delius’s A Village Romeo and Juliet into a coherent musico-dramatic narrative.
Cast announced for Bampton Classical Opera’s 2017 production of Salieri’s The School of Jealousy
Following highly successful UK premiËres of Salieri’s Falstaff (in 2003) and Trofonio’s Cave (2015), this summer Bampton Classical Opera will present the first UK performances since the late 18th century of arguably his most popular success: the bitter comedy of marital feuding, The School of Jealousy (La scuola de’ gelosi). The production will be designed and directed by Jeremy Gray and conducted by Anthony Kraus from Opera North. The English translation will be by Gilly French and Jeremy Gray. The cast includes Nathalie Chalkley (soprano), Thomas Herford (tenor) and five singers making their Bampton dÈbuts:, Rhiannon Llewellyn (soprano), Kate Howden (mezzo-soprano), Alessandro Fisher (tenor), Matthew Sprange (baritone) and Samuel Pantcheff (baritone). Alessandro was the joint winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Competition 2016.
La voix humaine: Opera Holland Park at the Royal Albert Hall
Reflections on former visits to Opera Holland Park usually bring to mind late evening sunshine, peacocks, Japanese gardens, the occasional chilly gust in the pavilion and an overriding summer optimism, not to mention committed performances and strong musical and dramatic values.
London Handel Festival: Handel’s Faramondo at the RCM
Written at a time when both his theatrical business and physical health were in a bad way, Handel’s Faramondo was premiered at the King’s Theatre in January 1738, fared badly and sank rapidly into obscurity where it languished until the late-twentieth century.
Brahms A German Requiem, Fabio Luisi, Barbican London
Fabio Luisi conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in Brahms A German Requiem op 45 and Schubert, Symphony no 8 in B minor D759 (“Unfinished”).at the Barbican Hall, London.
Ká?a Kabanová in its Seattle début
The atmosphere was a bit electric on February 25 for the opening night of
Leoš Janà?ek’s 1921 domestic tragedy, and not entirely in a
good way.