‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Year: 2020
Live from London: first-ever global online vocal festival announced
Live from London is a new, paid-for online festival from the VOCES8 Foundation, featuring some of the world’s finest vocal ensembles including VOCES8, I Fagiolini, Stile Antico, The Swingles, The Sixteen, Chanticleer and more.
‘In my end is my beginning’: Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida perform Winterreise at Wigmore Hall
All good things come to an end, so they say. Let’s hope that only the ‘good thing’ part of the adage is ever applied to Wigmore Hall, and that there is never any sign of ‘an end’.
Those Blue Remembered Hills: Roderick Williams sings Gurney and Howells
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Eboracum Baroque – Heroic Handel
Eboracum Baroque is a flexible period instrument ensemble, comprising singers and instrumentalists, which was founded in York – as its name suggests, Eboracum being the name of the Roman fort on the site of present-day York – while artistic director Chris Parsons was at York University.
Opera Rara at 50: Anniversary talk and Live Q&A
Artistic Dramaturge Roger Parker will be in conversation with musicologist Ditlev Rindom, introduced by Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi, on Thursday 25th June 2020 at 7pm BST.
Iestyn Davies and Elizabeth Kenny bring ‘sweet music’ to Wigmore Hall
Countertenor Iestyn Davies and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny kicked off the final week of live lunchtime recitals broadcast online and on radio from Wigmore Hall.
Bruno Ganz and Kirill Gerstein almost rescue Strauss’s Enoch Arden
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freisch¸tz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
Strauss – Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos, Oper with a prologue and one act.
Music composed by Richard Strauss. Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
UNMUTE: A Musical Reunion – Garsington Opera at Wormsley
Together with members of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Douglas Boyd conducts a programme of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Strauss with six soloists and readings by Samuel West.