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…
Author: David Truslove
Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade’s Scenes from Under Milk Wood – Presteigne Festival
Established in 1983, the Presteigne Festival is renowned for the diversity and quality of its programming and, like previous seasons, continues its immersion in contemporary music. Within the Welsh border…
Proms 2025: A Mass of Life outlined in all its sumptuous beauty
Hailed by many commentators as a choral masterpiece, Delius’s A Mass of Life is an expansive choral extravaganza taking inspiration from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra. The composer interprets the…
Proms 2025: Stupendous Mahler 3 from the Royal Albert Hall
It’s hard to believe live performances of Mahler’s Third Symphony – the longest symphony in the standard repertoire – only began life in the UK in 1961 when a performance…
Proms 2025: Aigul Akhmetshina soars in Ravel’s Shéhérazade
In its single contribution to this year’s promenade concerts, the London Philharmonic Orchestra took us to exotic and faraway regions, as far from the Albert Hall as one could imagine.…
Proms 2025: Beethoven & Bartók
Music of life-affirming vigour, then chilling intensity was the focus of this curious juxtaposition from the Budapest Festival Orchestra under its founding director Iván Fischer. The unalloyed joy of Beethoven’s…
Fine musical performances redeem this revival of Glyndebourne’s Kátya Kabanová
A winged angel, multiple birdcages and confining walls of brilliant white dominate this symbol-heavy staging of Kátya Kabanová, a production first unveiled by Damiano Michieletto at Glyndebourne in 2021. A few…
West Green Opera’s Macbeth Proves that Less is More
In the capable hands of director and designer Richard Studer and conductor Jonathan Lyness, this production more than suggests that Verdi’s Macbeth can be performed with a reduced orchestra and…
Plenty of Variety from the First Night of the Proms
The Proms season began with a curious mélange that was neither a bang nor a whimper. Its festive spirit was duly acknowledged with the Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood…
A Memorable and Musically Superb Pelléas et Mélisande from Longborough Festival Opera
Bare light bulbs, dazzling lighting rigs and handheld torches dominate Jenny Ogilvie’s new staging of Pelléas et Mélisande at Longborough Festival Opera. The production fulfils a long-held dream by the…