Any Florian Boesch and Malcolm Martineau performance is superb, but this Wigmore Hall recital surprised, too. Boesch’s Schubert is wonderful, but this time, it was his Liszt and Strauss songs which stood out. This year at the Wigmore Hall, we’ve heard a lot of Liszt and a lot of Richard Strauss everywhere, establishing high standards, but this was special.
Category: Reviews
Wexford Festival 2014
The weather was auspicious for Wexford Festival Opera’s first-night firework display — mild, clear and calm. But, as the rainbow rockets exploded over the River Slaney, even bigger bangs were being made down at the quayside.
The Met’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ a happy marriage of ensemble singing and acting
The cast of supporting roles was especially strong in the company’s new production of Mozart’s matchless masterpiece
Syracuse Opera’s ‘Die Fledermaus’ bubbles over with fun, laughter and irresistible music
The company uncorks its 40th Anniversary season with a visually and musically satisfying production of Johann Strauss Jr.’s farcical operetta
Capriccio at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Although performances of Richard Strauss’s last opera Capriccio have increased in recent time, Lyric Opera of Chicago has not experienced the “Konversationsst¸ck f¸r Musik” during the past twenty odd years.
Anna Netrebko, now a dramatic soprano, shines in the Met’s dark and murky ‘Macbeth’
The former lyric soprano holds up well — and survives the intrusive close-up camerawork of the ‘Live in HD’ transmission
Arizona Opera Presents First Mariachi Opera
Houston Grand Opera commissioned Cruzar la Cara de la Luna from composer JosÈ “Pepe” MartÌnez, music director of Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitl·n, who wrote the text together with Broadway and opera director Leonard Foglia. The work had its world premier in 2010. Since then, it has traveled to several cities including Paris, Chicago, and San Diego.
Pl·cido Domingo: I due Foscari, London
“Why should I go to hear Pl·cido Domingo” someone said when Verdi’s I due Foscari was announced by the Royal Opera House. There are very good reasons for doing so.
Philip Glass’s The Trial
Music Theatre Wales presented the world premiere of Philip Glass’s The Trial (Kafka) last night at the Linbury, Royal Opera House. Music Theatre Wales started doing Glass in 1989. Their production of Glass’s In the Penal Colony in 2010 was such a success that Glass conceived The Trial specially for the company.
Joyce DiDonato: Alcina, Barbican, London
To say that the English Concert’s performance of Handel’s Alcina at the Barbican on 10 October 2014 was hotly anticipated would be an understatement. Sold out for weeks, the performance capitalised on the draw of its two principals Joyce DiDonato and Alice Coote and generated the sort of buzz which the work did at its premiere.