There can hardly be a dry eye in the house, at the ‘Theatre in the Woods’ at West Horsley Place – Grange Park Opera’s new home – when, in Act 3 of Jan·?ek’s first mature opera, Natalya Romaniw’s Jen?fa realises that the tiny child whose frozen body has been discovered under the ice is her own dead son.
Category: Interviews
Elizabeth Llewellyn: Investec Opera Holland Park stages Puccini’s La Rondine
It’s six or so years ago since soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn appeared as an exciting and highly acclaimed new voice on the UK operatic stage, with critics praising her ‘ravishing account’ (The Stage) of Mozart’s Countess in Investec Opera Holland Park’s 2011 Le nozze di Figaro in which ‘Porgi, amor’ was a ‘highlight of the evening’.
Dougie Boyd, Artistic Director of Garsington Opera: in conversation
One year ago, tens of millions of Britons voted for isolation rather than for cooperation, but Douglas (Dougie) Boyd, Artistic Director of Garsington Opera, is an energetic one-man counterforce with a dynamic conviction that art and culture are strengthened by participation and collaboration; values which, alongside excellence and a spirit of adventure, have seen Garsington Opera acquire increasing renown and esteem on the international stage during his tenure, since 2012.
A Chat With Italian Conductor Riccardo Frizza
Riccardo Frizza is a young Italian conductor whose performances in Europe and the United States are getting rave reviews. He tells us of his love for the operas of Verdi, Bellini, and particularly Donizetti.
And London Burned: in conversation with Raphaela Papadakis
Raphaela Papadakis seems to like ‘playing with fire’. After her acclaimed performance as the put-upon maid, Anna, in Independent Opera’s production of äimon Vose?ek’s Beidermann and the Arsonists at Sadler’s Wells last year, she is currently rehearsing for the premiere this week of And London Burned, a new opera by Matt Rogers which has been commissioned by Temple Music Foundation to commemorate the 350th anniversary of The Great Fire of London.
Oxford Lieder Festival: in conversation with Julius Drake
In October 2014, the Oxford Lieder Festival – under its imaginative and intrepid founder, Sholto Kynoch – fulfilled an incredibly ambitious goal: to perform Schubert’s entire corpus of songs – more than 600 – and, for three marvellous weeks, to bring Vienna to Oxford. ‘The Schubert Project’ was a magnificent celebration of the life and music of Franz Schubert: at its core lay the first complete performance of Schubert’s songs – including variants and alternative versions – in the UK.
Interview with Star of Florencia en el Amazonas, Elizabeth Caballero
Lyric soprano Elizabeth Caballero’s signature role is Violetta in La traviata, which she portrays with a compelling interpretation, focused sound, and elegant coloratura that floats through the opera house as naturally as waves on the ocean.
An interview with Tobias Ringborg
I arrive at the Jerwood Space, where rehearsals are underway for Garsington
Opera’s forthcoming production of Idomeneo, to find that the
afternoon rehearsal has finished a little early.
Mark Padmore on festivals, lieder and musical conversations
I have to confess, somewhat sheepishly, at the start of my conversation with Mark Padmore, that I had not previously been aware of the annual music festival held in the small Cotswolds town of Tetbury, which was founded in 2002 and to which Padmore will return later this month to perform a recital of lieder by Schubert and Schumann with pianist Till Fellner.