Author: Anne Ozorio

Although far from perfect, the performance of Berio’s Sinfonia in the first half of this concert was certainly its high-point; indeed, I rather wish that I had left at the interval, given the tedium induced by Shostakovich’s interminable Fourth Symphony. Still, such was the programme Semyon Bychkov had been intended to conduct. Alas, illness had forced him to withdraw, to be replaced at short notice by Vasily Petrenko.

Handel’s Rinaldo was first performed in 1711 at London’s King’s Theatre. Handel’s first opera for London was designed to delight and entertain, combining good tunes, great singing with a rollicking good story. Robert Carsen’s 2011 production of the opera for Glyndebourne reflected this with its tongue-in-cheek Harry Potter meets St Trinian’s staging.

In typical Proms fashion, BBC Prom 28 saw Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex performed in an eclectic programme which started with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and also featured Electric Preludes by the contemporary Australian composer Brett Dean. Sakari Oramo,was making the first of his Proms appearances this year, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus.

Best of the season so far! William Christie and Les Arts Florissants performed Rameau Grand Motets at late night Prom 17.

Twelve years after Opera Holland Park’s first production of Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, the opera made a welcome return.

The Italianate cloister setting at Iford chimes neatly with Monteverdi’s penultimate opera The Return of Ulysses, as the setting cannot but bring to mind those early days of the musical genre.

Once again, we find ourselves thanking an unrepresentable being for Welsh National Opera’s commitment to its mission.

Composed during just a few weeks of the summer of 1926, Jan·?ek’s Slavonic-text Glagolitic Mass was first performed in Brno in December 1927.

With the conclusion of the ROH 2013-14 season on Saturday evening – John Copley’s 40-year old production of La BohËme bringing down the summer curtain – the sun pouring through the gleaming windows of the Floral Hall was a welcome invitation to enjoy a final treat. The Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Showcase offered singers whom we have admired in minor and supporting roles during the past year the opportunity to step into the spotlight.

Many words have already been spent – not all of them on musical matters – on Richard Jones’s Glyndebourne production of Der Rosenkavalier, which last night was transported to the Royal Albert Hall. This was the first time at the Proms that Richard Strauss’s most popular opera had been heard in its entirety and, despite losing two of its principals in transit from Sussex to SW1, this semi-staged performance offered little to fault and much to admire.