… and so to my second and final Messiah this year. I mention this, despite the fact he first was reviewed for a different website: Wild Arts’ staged Messiah at…
Author: Colin Clarke
Noël à la Chapelle: Magnificat
Christmas comes to Versailles, and the magnificent Chapelle Royale, courtesy of Le Poème Harmonique and Vincent Dumestre, one of the finest conductors of Baroque music around. There was even a…
A swallow returns: the elusive final version of Puccini’s La rondine
Although more associated with operas that really reside in the cracks of the repertoire, Opera Rara does investigate – or reconstruct – versions of better-known opera. Their release of the…
Christmas at Wigmore Hall
‘Weihnachten – es naht die jubelvolle Zeit’ was written at the start of Wigmore Hall’s free programme: Christmas – the joyous time is approaching. Innit. And to celebrate the annual…
Manchester Camerata at Wigmore Hall
It’s amazing what can change in three-quarters of an hour. This short lunchtime concert at Wigmore Hall presented some remarkable music in superb performances: the known, the lesser-known and the…
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…
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…
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…
Proms 2025: Pappano conducts Puccini and Strauss
It used to be a fairly rare treat to hear Suor Angelica, but of late there have been a number of significant stagings. Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten is rarer…