If Rousseau, Marx, Einstein, Lacan and Bill Gates were to collaborate on an opera, what would they create? Perhaps something not unlike ROBE by the Scottish composer and writer Alastair…
Category: Commentary
Visions of Childhood: April Fredrick and the English Symphony Orchestra
“Let’s not lose our wayin this solitude.” (‘September’, from Vier Letzte Lieder) The last work that American-born, UK-domiciled soprano April Fredrick performed before the March 2020 coronavirus lockdown was Richard…
W11 Opera announces exclusive screening of its 2020 online production, JUKEBOX
In 2020 when all the theatres across the UK were forced to close their doors, one children’s Opera company decided there was only one option: the show must go on…
20 Shots of Opera: Irish National Opera administer a creative ‘cure’
shot [noun]: an attempt to do or achieve something that you have not done before; an attempt to do or achieve something that is difficult, when success is uncertain; a…
ENO appoints Lord Chris Smith to Board of Trustees
English National Opera (ENO) is pleased to announce that Lord Chris Smith is joining the ENO Board of Trustees with immediate effect. From 1997 to 2001 Lord Smith was Secretary…
Remembering Anne Ozorio, 1951–2020
“I’m a large Asian-American, and I’ll wear something bright. You won’t miss me!” Anne’s response when I asked how I might recognise her when we first met, at an evening…
Aix Roars Back
After the propitious inauguration of Pierre Audi’s management of the Aix Festival in 2019 came the pandemic. The 2020 festival went up in Covid flames. The 2021 festival roars again…
Regards sur l’Infini: Katharine Dain and Sam Armstrong
Across the globe, musicians stopped making music in March this year. Or, at least, they stopped performing publicly, together, and communicating directly to audiences in concert halls, opera houses and…
Academy of Ancient Music appoints new Music Director
Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) has appointed Laurence Cummings as Music Director from the 2021/22 season. Laurence Cummings is one of Britain’s most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as a conductor and…
English National Opera and BBC Two announce the broadcast of Handel’s Messiah, captured exclusively for television this Easter
English National Opera (ENO) and BBC Two today announce that a specially-created concert of Handel’s Messiah will be recorded for exclusive broadcast on BBC Two this Easter. The hour-long performance of Handel’s…