‘Christmas with Jonas Kaufmann’ at the Royal Albert Hall

Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading tenor, the singer shares his personal favourite songs of the festive season in Christmas with Jonas Kaufmann at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday…

Le nozze di Figaro: Hampstead Garden Opera

HGO (formerly Hampstead Garden Opera) has been one of the musical heroes of the pandemic. Last year, it brought opera back to London with Holst’s Savītri; this year, it was…

Sharp slaps and pungent pyrotechnics: Glyndebourne’s Don Pasquale at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury

There was pungent, post-explosion smoke in the Marlowe Theatre during the performance of Glyndebourne’s touring production of Don Pasquale, and it wasn’t all the result of the pyrotechnics with which…

A rake revived: Glyndebourne Tour at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury

John Cox and David Hockney’s Glyndebourne production of The Rake’s Progress has proved one of the Festival’s most enduring successes, revived frequently in the Sussex theatre and in international houses…

Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition – finalists announced

Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition 2021 – Finalists ChosenPublic Final: Sunday 28 November 2021 6pm, Holywell Music Room, Holywell Street, Oxford OX1 3SD After an exciting first round of the fifth…

Thomas Schippers and the NHKSO: beauty, opulence and power – the legendary Osaka Die Walküre debuts on CD

The American conductor Thomas Schippers is a name largely unknown to many people. There may be several reasons for this. He died relatively young – at 47 – from lung…

Opera Holland Park releases a new online production of William Walton’s The Bear

“If there’s going to be equality between the sexes, then let us have it!” An angry creditor, a reclusive widow, a loyal servant and a pair of pistols are the…

An Akhnaten for our times from the Metropolitan Opera

Philip Glass’s major operas are hardly well represented on CD. Indeed, until recently only a single recording of each of Satyagraha and Akhnaten was available – and in the case…

A compelling Robert Devereux from Chelsea Opera Group at Cadogan Hall

In June 2019, the Australian soprano Helena Dix stepped into the royal shoes of Elizabeth I, replacing soprano Ina Schlingensiepen at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe in the third and final…

The Power of Music: healing, communion and time – a recital with Joyce DiDonato and Craig Terry

Joyce DiDonato spoke very personally – but very universally – about what this recital meant, her first in London since the pandemic began. Music was about healing, but it was…