You always remember exceptional voices when you hear them for the first time. I heard and reviewed Golda Schultz back in 2018 when she made her debut at the Proms.…
Proms 2025 – Riveting performance of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District
A wailing clarinet, a forlorn cor anglais and a post-coital trombone could hardly have been more ear-catching in this arresting performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk given at the Royal…
At the Intersection of Circus and Opera: Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise at La Vache Baroque
First performed on January 20, 1699, André Campra’s comic opera/ballet to a libretto by Jean-François Regnard finally arrives at its UK premiere in late Summer 2025 at the Vache Baroque…
Ravel’s Life Becomes an Opera at the Festival Ravel
The Festival Ravel, based in and around Saint-Jean-de-Luz – the delightful town on France’s Atlantic coast that neighbours Ravel’s birthplace Ciboure – was launched in its current form in 2021.…
Alexander’s Feast at the Proms
Performances of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast don’t come along too often; much less the Dublin version of 1742, meticulously recreated here by Peter Whelan, the conductor/director of Irish Baroque, and Donald…
Ensemble OrQuesta’s Don Giovanni: Grimeborn Festival’s late-summer Mozart at Arcola Theatre
There’s a deconstructed vibe to Arcola Theatre’s Studio 1 – raw brick, concrete, wood and metal predominate – and, in answer to this, Marcio da Silva’s production of Don Giovanni…
Le nozze di Figaro at the Proms
To say Glyndebourne and Le nozze di Figaro are linked is a huge understatement: it was Mozart’s opera, which many see to be the most perfect ever constructed, that launched…
Norma at Gstaad
Bellini’s Norma is one of the great operas; it is far more than just ‘Casta Diva’. And those UK readers who attended Chelsea Opera Group’s presentation of the same composer’s…
Zelmira, La cambiale di matrimonio, L’italiana in Algeri in Pesaro
The last of the Neapolitan tragic masterpieces, the very first farce, and the first of the famous comedies. The 2025 Rossini Opera Festival was of limited success. The success limited…
Wolf Trap Opera’s Carmen: Getting The Best Of Fate?
It felt appropriate walking up to Wolf Trap’s Filene Center on a sweaty August night for this one-night-only performance, considering that Bizet’s Carmen takes place in southern Spain. It’s a…