When Gabriela Preissová’s play, Její pastorkyňa (Her Stepdaughter), was produced for the first time, on 9th November 1890 at the National Theatre in Prague, it provoked a fierce debate between the advocates…
Month: September 2021
Edward Gardner conducts a magnificent The Midsummer Marriage to open his first season at the LPO
The last time I heard Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage was when I reviewed Graham Vick’s 1996 Covent Garden production. Visually spectacular – that vast Stockhausen-like globe, split open temple…
Gluck’s Paris and Helen: Bampton Classical Opera at St John’s Smith Square
Greek heroes are not unaccustomed to squaring up to the whims of gods and fortune, but in bringing Christoph Willibald Gluck’s account of the elopement of Paris, son of King…
Ruby Hughes in spellbinding form in Songs for New Life and Love
At first glance Charles Ives and Gustav Mahler make unusual bed fellows. But on this excellent CD from BIS they flank a song cycle by Helen Grime to form a…
Profound questions from Ondřej Adámek and the LSO, at the Barbican
An obvious risk, and frustration, in asking infinitely profound questions is that one knows they cannot be answered. The title of Ondřej Adámek’s orchestral song-cycle, Where Are You?, poses one such…
Sumptuous performances of Schnittke and Pärt from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Another coupling of Alfred Schnittke and Arvo Pärt from BIS brings together three unaccompanied choral works of the 1980s. Two close contemporaries, their spiritual journeys coincided with the revival of…
Angel Blue and the National Institute of Social Sciences present ‘What’s Next for Opera?’ webinar
On September 23 at 12pm ET / 5pm BT, the National Institute of Social Sciences (NISS) will present a webinar, ‘What’s Next for Opera?’, with a distinguished roster of industry…
Oliver Mears’ Rigoletto at Covent Garden: a superb drama of darkness and light
It was an absolute delight to be back at the Royal Opera House for the opening night of the 2021-22 season, but also somewhat disorientating. A full auditorium; convivial operagoers…
A wonderful recital of French song from Sabine Devieilhe and Alexandre Tharaud at Wigmore Hall
When I heard the French soprano Sabine Devieilhe make her solo debut at Wigmore Hall in May 2018, the only quibble I had with her charming programme, Les Salons de…
Ephemera & Inventions: composer Tom Coult discusses two Oxford Lieder Festival premieres
‘Suppose you were to be roused from your sleep with the cry of “Fire!” and were informed that the house in which you had been sleeping was in flames, how…