In the 17th century, sacred vocal music was not just for public worship in
church but also for private devotion within a secular setting, and this concert
at the Wigmore Hall by Theatre of the Ayre under its director
Elizabeth Kenny transported us from Chapel Royal to domestic chamber.
Category: Reviews
Theatre of the Ayre, Wigmore Hall
HOT Dream in Honolulu
In a world opera schedule packed with safe bread-and-butter warhorses, Hawaii Opera Theatre gambled on a Britten rarity and came up smelling as sweet as a tuberose lei.
Arizona Opera Presents an Interesting Carmen
Henri Meilhac and Ludovic HalÈvy, based their libretto for Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen on a novella of the same title by Prosper MÈrimÈe. On March 3, 1875, Carmen was premiered at the OpÈra-Comique in Paris.
L’Aiglon in Marseille
Napoleon I (Bonaparte) was known as the Aigle (eagle), his son by Marie Louise (of the Hapsburgs) later became called the Aiglon (eaglet). At birth he was dubbed the King of Rome by his father. Unofficially and very briefly he was Napoleon II. Exiled in Austria he was officially titled the Duke of Reichstadt and the Prince of Parma.
Norma , ENO
Notable first performance of Bellini’s opera by ENO, with a striking assumption of the title role from the young American soprano
Schubert: The Complete Songs
The Wigmore Hall’s chronological journey through the complete
lieder of Franz Schubert continued with this recital by tenor Ian Bostridge
and pianist Graham Johnson. The duo gave a thought-provoking performance
which was notable for the searching dialectic between simplicity and
complexity which it illuminated.
M is for Man, Music and Mystery
Peter Greenaway’s short film M is for Man, Music and Mozart, for which the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen composed the score, was commissioned to mark the bicentenary anniversary of Mozart’s death in 1791.
San Diego Opera Presents an Exciting Tosca
Together with fellow playwrights …mile Augier and Alexandre Dumas fils, Victorien Sardou dominated the French stage in the late nineteenth century. Although Sardou was an excellent craftsman who was elected to the AcadÈmie Francaise in 1877, his reliance on theatrical devices caused his plays to go out of style after the turn of the twentieth century.
Nabucco with a Rare Cast at Lyric Opera of Chicago
The background of Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco, currently being presented at Lyric Opera of Chicago, draws on the struggle between Babylonian and Hebrew forces, emphasized in this production graphically by alternating scripts in cuneiform and Hebrew projections.
Die Zauberflöte , ENO
Whilst the Arts Council has been doing its best to destroy the English National Opera, ENO has fought back in the best way possible: in the theatre.