ROSSINI: Il Barbiere di Siviglia — La Scala 1956

Il Barbiere di Siviglia [Almaviva, ossia L’inutile precauzione (‘Almaviva, or The Useless Precaution’)]: Commedia in two acts.

Charles Workman — the American dying to sing “Acis” for the Royal Opera

American? Well, yes, that’s what it says on one of his passports, but the other is British and he and his family reside in the UK and have done since 1995.

Bel canto, an escape into beauty

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article5859018.ece

Tristan und Isolde in Chicago

By the close of the first act of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde in its current production at Lyric Opera of Chicago the audience has been given a strong impression of the multi-faceted characters bound up in the musical drama unfolding on stage.

CHERUBINI: Medea — La Scala 1961

Medea (MÈdÈe): OpÈra comique in three acts.

Fidelio — London Lyric Opera, Cadogan Hall

After a problematic debut last Autumn with Der fliegende Holl‰nder at the Barbican, London’s newest opera-in-concert outfit returned this month with Fidelio at the smaller Cadogan Hall.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle on the joy of music

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5ccaa0d0-09dd-11de-add8-0000779fd2ac.html

Dr Atomic lands on London with a bang

To say that Dr Atomic landed in London with a bang is shocking, but the subject it deals with is meant to be disturbing. Unlike the scientists at Los Alamos, we can’t live in denial of the wider implications. This isn’t history. It’s a universal dilemma, utterly relevant today.

La bohËme — English National Opera

Jonathan Miller’s new production of Puccini’s wintry opera was denied its planned opening night on Monday 2nd February by a bout of unusually heavy snow which brought most of London’s transport services to a halt and turned it into a virtual ghost town (thus, up the road at Covent Garden, the cancellation of a performance of Korngold’s ‘Die tote Stadt’ was equally ironic).

A Bellini Gem in a New Zimmerman Setting

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123621190230234765.html