Given the cult following Arvo Pärt has attracted over the last thirty years, it is interesting to note how seldom the chaste landscape of Passio – with its relatively modest…
Year: 2021
Cinquecento – a class act in the sacred music of Jacob Regnart: Missa Christ ist erstanden
Thanks to two recordings by the Vienna-based Cinquecento issued on Hyperion, the name of Jacob Regnart (c.1540-99) has become more familiar. On this showing the Flemish-born composer will continue to…
A formidable Dame Patricia Routledge as the formidable Dame Myra Hess
It came as something of a shock to me to discover that Dame Patricia Routledge is now 92 years old. She is much shorter than one imagines, given the massive…
Puccini’s Tosca at the Royal Opera House
Jonathan Kent’s production of Tosca has been running at the Royal Opera House since 2006; this is its ninth revival. It is no surprise it is still there in repertoire.…
The 66th Kathleen Ferrier Awards 2021
For the second year running, the Kathleen Ferrier Awards were delayed until the autumn and the participants had only a panel of illustrious judges and a small private audience before…
VOCES8 and O/Modernt bring holy minimalism to Wigmore Hall
This was the third performance by VOCES8 that I’d attended or viewed in two weeks, which confirms that their virtuosity is matched by their versatility, and that they have a…
Longborough Festival Opera appoints inaugural Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow
Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Harry Sever as its first Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow. Sever will work alongside Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus for the next three seasons as the festival builds…
A Christmas Cracker from VOCES8
Christmas crackers usually come stuffed with a flimsy paper crown, a tacky toy, a plastic puzzle and a bad joke. But, open a VOCES8 Christmas Cracker and you’ll find the…
Virtuosic performances by Tenebrae at the Wigmore Hall
Tenebrae has clearly reached that point in its timeline when it could build a roster of virtually unknown pieces and still attract an audience, safe in the knowledge that its…
CCM names Voice Professor Stuart Skelton as J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair in Opera
An internationally acclaimed and award-winning heldentenor, Skelton will guide one of the nation’s preeminent opera training programs in his new role at CCM Grammy nominee and 2014 International Opera Awards…