Mendelssohn and Brahms: a rarity and a staple in the choral repertory

Amateur choral societies are much more likely to venture into lesser known areas of the choral repertory without worrying about the box-office appeal which binds many other promoters. So it…

A domestic drama as good as any: Wagner’s Die Walküre in the Regents Opera Ring

A kitchen sink drama really is nothing new. It’s been around for as long as human beings have been inhabiting a shared domestic space. The first act of Wagner’s Die…

Spotlight on Carissimi from Vox Luminis

Two death sentences; one fatal, one reprieved, and a near-fatal encounter with a whale. These events formed the central focus of dramatic performances by the Belgium ensemble Vox Luminis in…

Das Rheingold kicks off Regents Opera’s Ring in a ring

Everything about Wagner is big – very big. The instrumentation for the preliminary evening of Der Ring der Nibelungen alone encompasses eight horns doubling on Wagner tubas, seven harps and…

Life, death and holidays: lieder by Schubert, Loewe and Krenek at Wigmore Hall

Wigmore Hall gave London audiences the opportunity to hear lieder recitals by two leading German-speaking baritones within the space of a weekend. Konstantin Krimmel was joined by pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz…

Treachery and lechery in English National Opera’s new The Marriage of Figaro

I’ve always found it strange that in the English language the title of one of the most popular pieces in the repertory is rendered as The Marriage of Figaro. The…

Compelling performances from OperaUpClose:
Riders to the Sea & The Last Bit of the Moon

What does one perform with Vaughan Williams’s seldom heard one act tragedy about a mother who has lost her last surviving son somewhere off the west coast of Ireland? Drawn…

A powerful and unsettling Aida at the Royal Opera House

An empty stage enclosing grey walls of a concrete bunker. This is the initial impression we have of Robert Carsen’s Aida, presented at the Royal Opera House in a first revival by Gilles…

Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco in Parma

The least performed of the Verdi oeuvre, not included in the Verdi canon, Giovanna d’arco (Joan of Arc) was given another chance just now on one of Italy’s famed Verdi…

L’Amant Anonyme in Philadelphia

Among classical composers, Joseph Bologne’s biography is unique. Born in 1745 in the French Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe as the illegitimate son of a wealthy planter and a 19-year-old creole…