Make no mistake, this is about you! Jim laid-out dead on the stage floor, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen brought his very loud orchestra (London’s Philharmonia) to an abrupt halt. Black out. The maestro then turned his spotlighted face to confront us and he held his stare. There was no mistake, the music was about us.
Category: Reviews
Mozart’s Travels: Classical Opera and The Mozartists at Wigmore Hall
There was a full house at Wigmore Hall for Classical Opera’s/The Mozartists’ final concert of the 2018-19 season: a musical paysage which chartered, largely chronologically, Mozart’s youthful travels from London to The Hague, on to Paris, then Rome, concluding – following stop-overs in European cultural cities such as Munich and Vienna – with an arrival at his final destination, Prague.
Tosca in Aix
From the sublime — the Mozart Requiem — to the ridiculous, namely stage director Christophe HonorÈ’s Tosca. A ridiculous waste of operatic resources.
A terrific, and terrifying, The Turn of the Screw at Garsington
One might describe Christopher Oram’s set for Louisa Muller’s new production of The Turn of the Screw at Garsington as ‘shabby chic’ … if it wasn’t so sinister.
Mozart Requiem in Aix
Pierre Audi, now the directeur gÈnÈral of the Festival d’Aix as well as the artistic director of New York City’s Park Avenue Armory opens a new era for this distinguished opera festival in the south of France with a new work by the Festival’s signature composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
A Rachmaninov Drama at Middle Temple Hall
It is Rachmaninov’s major works for orchestra – the Second and Third Piano Concertos, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the Symphonic Dances – alongside the All-Night Vespers and the music for solo piano, which have earned the composer a permanent place in the concert repertoire today.
Fun, Frothy, and Frivolous: L’elisir d’amore at Las Vegas
There are a dizzying array of choices for music entertainment in Las Vegas
ranging from Celine Dion and Cher to Paul McCartney and Aerosmith.
Admittedly, these performers are a far cry from opera, but the point is
that Las Vegas residents have many options when it comes to live music.
McVicar’s production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro returns to the Royal Opera House
David McVicar’s production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, has been a remarkable success since it debuted in 2006. Set with the Count of Almaviva’s fearfully grand household in 1830, McVicar’s trick is to surround the principals by servants in a supra-naturalistic production which emphasises how privacy is at a premium.
The Cunning Little Vixen at the Barbican Hall
The presence of a large cast of ‘animals’ in Jan·?ek’s The Cunning Little Vixen can encourage directors and designers to create costume-confections ranging from Disney-esque schmaltz to grim naturalism.