Elijah Moshinsky’s Otello, first seen at Covent Garden in 1987,
and revived numerous times with a range of stellar casts, may be traditional
and conservative, even — excepting the thunderous opening storm scene —
somewhat uninventive;
Category: Performances
Otello, Royal Opera
Triple Delights in the City of Light
Paris OpÈra seems to have saved the best for last as they wind up the current season with a trio of diverse and well-judged productions.
Written on Skin at the Aix Festival
Not about tattoo art, not an evocation of the Holocast, and let us not even try to put our finger on what it is about.
‘Ancient & Modern’ with Angelika Kirchschlager and Ian Bostridge
Ian Bostridge’s thought-provoking ‘Ancient and Modern’ project at the
Wigmore Hall is drawing to a close and this penultimate instalment brought
together Renaissance sensuality and Neo-classical restraint in a meticulously
executed performance.
Susan Graham, Wigmore Hall
Embodying a range of iconic female characters from history, literature and song — both the ‘good’ and the ‘not-so-good’ — Susan Graham delivered a wonderfully suave and entertaining performance before a delighted Wigmore Hall audience.
The Marriage of Figaro in Montpellier
Perfection. A seldom used term in critiques of opera performances. There it was, almost (and will be, maybe).
St. Louis in Fine Festival Form
Forget about picking a desert island opera, I want Opera Theatre of St. Louis as my desert island opera company.
Les Troyens, Royal Opera House London
A sensational Les Troyens at the Royal Opera House, London. Berlioz, who understood theatrical gestures so well, builds his opera around the most audacious dramatic device in ancient history: the Trojan Horse.
Dr Dee, ENO
First staged at Manchester’s 2011 international festival, Dr Dee
is a theatrical work based on the life of Renaissance cosmographer and
charlatan, John Dee.
Miah Persson, Wigmore Hall
At the Wigmore Hall, there’s long been a tradition of Swedish song. We’ve heard many of the greats, Anne Sofie von Otter, Barbara Bonney and others. Miah Persson and Roger Vignoles are in this constellation.