In 2021 Opera Holland Park unveiled a reimagined auditorium and performance space to reflect the natural beauty of the theatre’s setting and to allow for social distancing. Constructed from reclaimed…
Category: Commentary
After 20 years, James Conway steps back from full-time role as Artistic Director at English Touring Opera
After 20 years leading English Touring Opera – and approaching an interesting birthday – Director James Conway has decided to take a step away from a full time position with…
Juliana: a ‘naturalistic tragedy’ for our times
In the Preface to his 1888 play, Miss Julie, August Strindberg argued for a new, less artificial form of dialogue – associative, flowing naturally, as in life: ‘I have avoided…
CCM names Voice Professor Stuart Skelton as J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair in Opera
An internationally acclaimed and award-winning heldentenor, Skelton will guide one of the nation’s preeminent opera training programs in his new role at CCM Grammy nominee and 2014 International Opera Awards…
Longborough Festival Opera appoints inaugural Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow
Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Harry Sever as its first Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow. Sever will work alongside Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus for the next three seasons as the festival builds…
Bampton Classical Opera 2021 Young Singers’ Competition – winner announced
Bampton Classical Opera is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2021 Young Singers’ Competition is Australian soprano Cassandra Wright. The second prize has been awarded to soprano Jessica Cale. The winner of the…
Glyndebourne begins 2022 with Pay the Piper, a brand new youth opera from an all-female composer team
On 25 February 2022 Glyndebourne will present the world premiere of Pay the Piper, Glyndebourne’s first youth opera since 2017. The opera has been jointly composed by the four participants of…
Glyndebourne Encore, a new streaming service giving on-demand access to its filmed operas
Glyndebourne is launching a new streaming service called Glyndebourne Encore, giving on-demand access to its back catalogue of world-class opera, as well as all future filmed productions. Glyndebourne has been…
Music opens the doors of memory: new opera company, Theatre of Sound, launches with a radical retelling of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle
Forbidden chambers, corpses dangling from wall-hooks, pools of clotted blood, stigmata of guilt: ‘Bluebeard’, which first appeared in literary form in Charles Perrault’s seventeenth-century collection, Tales of Mother Goose, is…
Exclusive first look behind the scenes of Katie Mitchell’s thrilling new production of Handel’s Theodora
Acclaimed director Katie Mitchell’s gripping new production of Handel’s Theodora opens at the Royal Opera House on Monday 31st January 2022. Not heard in Covent Garden since its 1750 premiere,…