To describe Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila as ‘old-fashioned’ doesn’t seem controversial. The French composer’s score harks back to the past with its allusions to Handelian fugue and Bachian chorale, betraying…
Month: May 2022
Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers at Glyndebourne
It’s not often that a Glyndebourne production offers its audience an interactive experience. But, that’s what seemed to be happening towards the close of the final Act of the second…
A Baroque double-bill from Hampstead Garden Opera
The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone is typical of the sort of intimate venue in which Hampstead Garden Opera customarily presents its productions, which showcase young singers and musicians in performances…
Apollo of the Arts: Lost Lamentations – a concert for connoisseurs at Winchester College Chapel
It’s rare these days to find a new vocal ensemble prepared to dip its toe in the water of Marian-themed repertoire that is virtually unknown. Such is the case with…
An irreverent but stylishly sung Imeneo at the Royal Academy of Music
Imeneo, Handel’s penultimate opera, has a somewhat chaotic history. It was the only one of Handel’s forty or so operas to be presented as an ‘operetta’ – perhaps to make…
Martin Graham steps down as Chairman of Longborough Festival Opera
Having recently celebrated his 80th birthday, Martin Graham, founder of Longborough Festival Opera, is stepping down from the Board which he has chaired for over 20 years. Martin will retain his…
Royal Opera House launches 2022/23 apprenticeship programme
The Royal Opera House has announced the launch of its 2022/23 apprenticeship programme, which offers nine apprentices high-quality training and two years of paid employment at one of London’s leading…
Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida bring darkness and dreams to Wigmore Hall
Mark Padmore continued his season-residency at Wigmore Hall with a programme of lieder by Beethoven and Schubert. In the latter’s ‘Ihr Bild’, one of the Heine settings in Schwanengesang, the…
The Vache Baroque Festival 2022: in conversation with co-founder Betty Makharinsky
The myth of Orpheus and the story of opera are inextricable. Gifted the first musical instrument, the lyre, by his father, Apollo, Orpheus and his art represent man’s need to…