Emotionally charged songs by Richard Strauss interleaved with youthful offerings by Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg form the basis for Lucy Crowe’s first disc with Linn under the title Longing.…
Category: Reviews
Vibrant visuals and fancy footwork: Cal McCrystal’s HMS Pinafore at English National Opera
The Modern Major-General may dismiss its whistled airs as “infernal nonsense”, but the songs of HMS Pinafore have lost none of their appeal during the near 150 years since Gilbert…
A standing ovation for Lisette Oropesa in the Royal Opera House’s revival of La traviata
Given the tubercular demise of Verdi’s tragic heroine, it’s tempting to describe the ROH’s latest reprise of Richard Eyre’s 1994 production of Verdi’s La traviata in pandemic terms – in…
dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices at the Oxford Lieder Festival
British-Australian soprano Samantha Crawford and American pianist Lana Bode describe dream.risk.sing as a ‘love letter to women of all ages … a programme for women and for those who love…
Imaginative, daring, enterprising: Fulham Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena
Richard Strauss’ Die ägyptische Helena remains something of the ugly duckling amongst the operas he wrote with Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Premiered in Dresden in 1928, it has rarely been performed…
Giovanna d’Arco at Opera di Roma
The Opera di Roma opens its fall season this week with Giuseppe Verdi’s rarely-performed early work, Giovanna d’Arco. The Teatro Costanzi was sold out on Tuesday, for Italians now live…
Fidelio in San Francisco
A superb cast, a fine production, inspired conducting, classy orchestra and a classy chorus, a wired audience — it was Fidelio last night at the War Memorial Opera House. To…
everything grows extravagantly: an impressive new song-cycle by Cheryl Frances-Hoad at the Oxford Lieder Festival
The Oxford Lieder Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year; the Oxford Botanic Garden marks its 400th birthday. Cheryl Frances-Hoad, in her third and final year as Oxford Lieder’s…
‘Songs of America’ at the Oxford Lieder Festival
Better—than Music! For I—who heard it—I was used—to the Birds—before—This—was different—’Twas Translation—Of all tunes I knew—and more— […] Let me not spill—its smallest cadence—Humming—for promise—when alone—Humming—until my faint Rehearsal—Drop into…
Philip Glass’s Satyagraha still captivates at English National Opera
After an eighteen-month absence, at least at the Coliseum, English National Opera is back on home turf and marking its return to live performance with a reboot of Philip Glass’s…