Der Ring des Nibelungen is the centre piece of this year’s Longborough Festival – all four instalments of Wagner’s epic staged over three successive weeks. That the performances take place…
Author: David Truslove
Garsington’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is long on mystery & short on magic
Netia Jones’s new staging of Britten and Pears’s take on Shakespeare’s play creates plenty of mystery, though not necessarily the kind that’s easy to appreciate. Her single monochrome set intrigues…
Welsh National Opera’s Outstanding Il trittico
Within the last year or so Welsh National Opera has produced some remarkable productions including two unforgettable stagings of Candide and Death in Venice. Now, Puccini’s Il trittico has begun…
Heart-rending Kátya Kabanová from Grange Park Opera
Guilt, shame and suicide are not everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to country house opera. And if Janáček’s angst-ridden masterpiece is not the obvious stimulant you’re hoping for,…
Glamour & Gaiety in Glyndebourne’s freshly minted Merry Widow
Seen for the first time at Glyndebourne, this Merry Widow is a stylish romp that, in the hands of director Cal McCrystal, recalls the best of Broadway. Glamorous sets and…
Yale Schola Cantorum bring fire and refinement to Bach’s Mass in B minor
The official website for Yale Schola Cantorum (part of Connecticut’s Ivy League research university) somewhat matter-of-factly describes the group as “a chamber choir that performs sacred music from the sixteenth…
Thrilling singing from Tenebrae in Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles
Forming a choral centrepiece at the Newbury Spring Festival, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles was given an inspirational outing by the internationally acclaimed ensemble Tenebrae at Douai Abbey in Woolhampton,…
A sensational Salomé from Lise Davidsen at Opéra Bastille
Over a century after its 1905 Dresden premiere, Richard Strauss’s Salomé still has the capacity to disturb. Given that audiences have pretty much seen everything on the operatic stage, should…
Rapturous reception of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in Poole
“Who’d have thought it could happen in Poole” voiced one overawed audience member. He was not referring to the standing ovation, although that in itself was exceptional, but the outstanding…
Mixed Performances of Mendelssohn from the OAE
Judging by a revelatory all-Mendelssohn concert recently heard at the Anvil, Basingstoke with Sir András Schiff and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, I had every reason to assume…