Stylish, spirited vocalism that rang convincingly through the Palais Garnier was the hallmark of Paris Opera’s thrilling revival of one of Mozart’s least appreciated mature operas.
Category: Performances
Schiller: Ein Leben in Liedern, Wigmore Hall
While the music industry seems to be spiralling dementedly downmarket, the Wigmore Hall keeps standards extremely high.
Wigmore Hall International Song Competition 2011
The Wigmore Hall is the most respected centre of art song excellence in Britain and its Song Competition attracts interest from all over the world.
BBC Prom 73: Der Freisch¸tz
Why would a French composer take an opera which epitomises German Romanticism and Nationalism and adapt it to the conventions of the French grand opera tradition?
Santa Fe Faust — Revisited
The distinguished soprano Patricia Racette once advised this observer, “If you are coming to the opera to review me, please attend the latest performance you can.” I knew what she meant.
Prom 67: Beethoven, Mass in D major, op.123
I shall not beat about the bush: this was a great performance.
Ruhrtriennale’s Luminous Tristan
Bochum’s Jahrhunderthalle, a massive, re-purposed industrial building, seemed an unlikely location to contain and frame the transcendent, unbounded spiritual journey of Wagner’s masterpiece Tristan und Isolde.
Verdi’s Requiem Closes Grant Park Festival
In its final performances of the Summer 2011 season the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus along with guest soloists gave two performances of Verdi’s Requiem.
BBC Prom 58: Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Droughts, deserts, false gods, angels, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and a firestorm. Plenty of drama in the Bible. In BBC Prom 58, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players made a good case for period performance of Mendelssohn’s magnificent Elijah op 70.
Bayreuth’s Tannh‰user: Recycled Trash
Newsflash: Wartburg is a world-wide recycling company, at one with the universe, wherein everything and everyone exists in a perfectly sustainable environment.