“It’s the great masterpiece you’ve never heard.” So declared Sir Simon Rattle when he introduced Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri to the London Symphony Orchestra in 2015, in a…
Author: Claire Seymour
VOCES8 and VOCES8 Scholars: The Milton Abbey Concert
The activities of the VOCES8 Foundation are as diverse as its values are singular: to promote music education for all. Alongside performances and recordings by VOCES8 and Apollo5, the Foundation’s…
György Kurtág’s Endgame receives its UK premiere at the Proms
What sort of music might capture the enigmatic nihilism of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame? The play’s fragmentation and dislocation? Its seemingly pointless patterns of repetition and variation? György Kurtág’s aphoristic stutters,…
To Sing of Love: VOCES8 – LIVE from London Summer 2023
VOCES8’s LIVE From London Summer 2023 festival feels a bit mis-named – but that’s only because the nine concerts which form this summer’s online festival, which runs from 12th August…
Trouble in Tahiti at the Arcola Theatre
Ned Rorem described works such as Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti (1952) as ‘Broadway operas’: a fusion of opera, music theatre and tv sitcom. There’s obviously a lot of edgy…
Ruddigore at Opera Holland Park
Ruddigore has always had a problematic status in the G&S canon. Following hot on the heels of The Mikado, its premiere in 1887 was met with catcalls and jeers. Some…
Oxford International Song Festival: Art:Song – Images, Words, Music
Oxford International Song Festival (formerly Oxford Lieder Festival):13 to 28 October 2023 Art:Song – Images, Words, Music The Oxford International Song Festival (13 to 28 October 2023) presents a thrilling fortnight of intrigue,…
Barry Kosky’s production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites travels from Glyndebourne to the Proms
Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues des Carmélites retells the true story of the Martyrs of Compiègne who were executed on 17th July 1794, during the French Revolution, for refusing to comply…
PwC Ireland showcases sponsorship of Wexford Factory 2023
Opera singers Ami Hewitt and Maria Hughes performed at a cultural event in PwC Ireland’s Spencer Dock offices. Artists Maria and Ami have both been supported by the partnership between the Festival and…
Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald: a new recording on Resonus Classics
In March 1903, The Metropolitan Opera presented a double bill of Verdi’s II trovatore and Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald (The Forest). The latter was the first opera written by a…