We are accustomed to seeing Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo at the helm of a large orchestra, baton in hand, guiding the instrumentalists with unassuming but precise authority and expressive, communicative musicianship.
Month: August 2018
Fables and the Fabulous from Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO at the Proms
Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra took us through fairy-tale forests, antique lands and into fantasy worlds in this fabulous Prom, which celebrated Maurice Ravel’s genius as a musical story-teller.
The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival
Hans Werner Henze’s fifth opera, The Bassarids (those who wear fox skins) had its world premiere at Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus in 1966. Now, 52 years later Henze’s massive “opera seria” returns, but to the Felsenreitschule —the old riding school made into a theater that hosts the Salzburg Festival’s difficult operas, the Grosses Festspielhaus now dedicated to the grand repertoire.
Claude Debussy and Lili Boulanger commemorated at the Proms
Two French commemorations – ‘anniversaries’ always seems the wrong word – and surely is – here: the centenary of the deaths of Claude Debussy and Lili Boulanger.
Pique Dame in Salzburg
It was emeritus night at the Salzburg Festival with 75 year old maestro Mariss Jansons conducting 77 year old stage director Hans Neuenfels production about Pushkin’s 87 year old countess known as the Pique Dame.
Salome in Salzburg
A Romeo Castellucci production is always news, it is even bigger news just now in Salzburg where Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian has made her debut as the fifteen year-old Salome.
Vaughan Williams Dona nobis pacem – BBC Prom 41
Prom 41 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, with Edward Gardner conducting the BBCSO in Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem, Elgar’s Cello Concerto (Jean-Guihen Queyras) and Lili Boulanger . Extremely perceptive performances that revealed deep insight, far more profound than the ostensible “1918” theme
John Wilson brings Broadway to South Kensington: West Side Story at the BBC Proms
There were two, equal ‘stars’ of this performance of the authorised concert version of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story at the Royal Albert Hall: ‘Lenny’ himself, whose vibrant score – by turns glossy and edgy – truly shone, and conductor John Wilson, who made it gleam, and who made us listen afresh and intently to every coloristic detail and toe-tapping, twisting rhythm.
Glyndebourne announces new Artistic Director
http://www.operatoday.com/content/2018/08/glyndebourne_an.php