Author: Gary Hoffman

One can only imagine the small-ad: “exquisite small italianate water garden wishes to meet pastoral “little opera” in intimate setting, small cast and orchestra ideal, with music of delightful poise and accessibility.

The superstitious would have us believe that it is better not to build up expectations, lest they be confounded.

This zany production of Verdi’s only comic opera before ‘Falstaff’ keeps the singers in chaos and the audience in stitches

For me, this is almost to have come full circle — though as anyone with even the slightest acquaintance with the Ring will tell you, the so-called ‘cycle’ does not end where it began, its world having been changed forever.

The final concert in pianist Julius Drake’s Perspectives series united song, literature and biography through the prism of Dominick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize-winning song-cycle, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf.

‘Wort oder Ton?’ may be the Countess’s question, but it is far from the only question asked in, let alone by, Capriccio.

David Pittsinger, as King Arthur, provided most of the magic in this
pleasant but unspectacular production of the Lerner and Loewe musical

Donizetti’s late comedy Don Pasquale debuted in Paris in 1843 and has been popular ever since. It was produced at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1938 but, rather surprisingly, Mariame Clement’s 2013 production, refreshingly set in the 18^th century rather than being update, was the first festival production since 1938.

This remarkably cohesive programme of works by Britten, Lutoslawski and AdËs was underpinned by a dark intensity; tragic realism interwoven with transient intimations of hope.