It was a Druid orgy that overtook the War Memorial. Magnificent singing, revelatory conducting, off-the-wall staging (a compliment, sort of).
Category: Reviews
Joyce DiDonato starts Wigmore Hall new season
There was a quasi-party atmosphere at the Wigmore Hall on Monday evening, when Joyce DiDonato and Antonio Pappano reprised the recital that had kicked off the Hall’s 2014-15 season with reported panache and vim two nights previously. It was standing room only, and although this was a repeat performance there certainly was no lack of freshness and spontaneity: both the American mezzo-soprano and her accompanist know how to communicate and entertain.
Aida at Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival
In strict architectural terms, the stupendous 2nd century Roman
theatre of Aspendos near Antalya in southern Turkey is not an arena or
amphitheatre at all, so there are not nearly as many ghosts of gored gladiators
or dismembered Christians to disturb the contemporary feng shui as in
other ancient loci of Imperial amusement.
St Matthew Passion, Prom 66
Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra brought their staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, 6 September 2014.
Glimmerglass: Butterfly Leads the Pack
Every so often an opera fan is treated to a minor miracle, a revelatory performance of a familiar favorite that immediately sweeps all other versions before it.
Operalia, the World Opera Competition, Showcases 2014 Winners
On August 30, Los Angeles Opera presented the finals concert of Pl·cido Domingo’s Operalia, the world opera competition. Founded in 1993, the contest endeavors to discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today. Thousands of applicants send in recordings from which forty singers are chosen to perform live in the city where the contest is being held. Last year it was Verona, Italy, this year Los Angeles, next year London.
Elektra at Prom 59
The second day of the Richard Strauss weekend at the BBC Proms saw Richard
Strauss’s Elektra performed at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 August 2014
by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, with Christine
Goerke in the title role.
Powerful Mahler Symphony no 2 Harding, BBC Proms London
Triumphant! An exceptionally stimulating Mahler Symphony No 2 from Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Prom 57 at the Royal Albert Hall. Harding’s Mahler Tenth performances (especially with the Berliner Philharmoniker) are pretty much the benchmark by which all other performances are assessed. Harding’s Mahler Second is informed by such an intuitive insight into the whole traverse of the composer’s work that, should he get around to doing all ten together, he’ll fulfil the long-held dream of “One Grand Symphony”, all ten symphonies understood as a coherent progression of developing ideas.
Nina Stemme’s stunning Strauss Salome, BBC Proms London
The BBC Proms continued its Richard Strauss celebrations with a performance of his first major operatic success Salome. Nina Stemme led forces from the Deutsche Oper, Berlin,at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 August 2014,the first of a remarkable pair of Proms which sees Salome and Elektra performed on successive evenings
Santa Fe Opera Presents Updated, at One Point Up-ended, Don Pasquale
On August 9, 2014, Santa Fe Opera presented a new updated production of Don Pasquale that set the action in the 1950s. Chantal Thomas’s Act I scenery showed the Don’s furnishing as somewhat worn and decidedly dowdy. Later, she literally turned the Don’s home upside down!