From Nordic songs to Nature’s spirit: after a day which focused on the music of Wilhelm Stenhammar and his Scandinavian compatriots, the fourth day of the Oxford Lieder Festival turned…
Author: Claire Seymour
Scandinavian Landscapes at the Oxford Lieder Festival
The third day of this year’s Oxford Lieder Festival, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, focused on Scandinavian song, in particular the music of Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871–1927). This self-taught Swedish…
Glyndebourne’s 2021 Tour opens with Frederic Wake-Walker’s new production of Fidelio
Beethoven was none too sure about his only opera, Fidelio. When librettist Friedrich Treitschke set about revising the first versions of the opera, originally titled Leonore, oder Der Triumph der…
Handelian magic from English Touring Opera at the Hackney Empire
‘A production in which there is more invention, variety, and good composition, than in any one of the musical dramas of Handel which I have yet carefully and critically examined.’…
Christian Gerharer and friends at Wigmore Hall
This recital looked somewhat ‘epic’ on the page and fulfilled its promise in performance, presenting three major chamber works, each encompassing expressive heights, and nadirs, and unified by the nocturnal…
Mattila and Grigorian excel in Claus Guth’s new production of Jenůfa at Covent Garden
When Gabriela Preissová’s play, Její pastorkyňa (Her Stepdaughter), was produced for the first time, on 9th November 1890 at the National Theatre in Prague, it provoked a fierce debate between the advocates…
Ephemera & Inventions: composer Tom Coult discusses two Oxford Lieder Festival premieres
‘Suppose you were to be roused from your sleep with the cry of “Fire!” and were informed that the house in which you had been sleeping was in flames, how…
Gluck’s Paris and Helen: Bampton Classical Opera at St John’s Smith Square
Greek heroes are not unaccustomed to squaring up to the whims of gods and fortune, but in bringing Christoph Willibald Gluck’s account of the elopement of Paris, son of King…
Profound questions from Ondřej Adámek and the LSO, at the Barbican
An obvious risk, and frustration, in asking infinitely profound questions is that one knows they cannot be answered. The title of Ondřej Adámek’s orchestral song-cycle, Where Are You?, poses one such…
Glyndebourne partnering with Pegasus Opera Company on mentoring programme for singers from diverse backgrounds
Glyndebourne has announced that it is supporting the Pegasus Opera Mentoring Programme, which offers aspiring and emerging artists of African and Asian heritage a bespoke programme of coaching and mentoring…