Just when you thought DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) was dead, American stage director Peter Sellers brazenly enlisted 16 highly trained (various cool, pop styles) dancers of color from America, France…
Year: 2025
A simple, effective staging of a Thea Musgrave’s politically intricate opera Mary, Queen of Scots
Given the obsession with the Tudors – particularly as TV, stage or literary drama, as well as historical documentary – it makes for a welcome variation on this subject that…
Of loneliness, dragons and heroics: Wagner’s Siegfried in a staging by Regents Opera
Nobody should ever assume that creative artists constantly engage in mutual back-slapping. Tolstoy’s verdict on Wagner’s Siegfried, the second day of the Ring cycle, was vicious: “A stupid puppet show…
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…