The complexity of staging Puccini’s evening of three one-act operas, Il Trittico, has kept this masterpiece from appearing on opera stages as frequently as, say, Turandot or Tosca.
Category: Performances
Incomparable Schubert — Goerne at the Wigmore Hall Part 2
This programme of mostly solemn, elevated music based around songs on such themes as Evening, Death and Immutability was part of Matthias Goerne’s ‘Journey with Schubert’ during which he is recording the songs on eleven CDs and presenting the series in recitals all over the world. If the singing on this occasion is anything to go by, these recordings are set to become the standard to which other singers should aspire.
Goerne sings Schubert at the Wigmore Hall
When Matthias Goerne sings, it’s never superficial. Lieder is a genre that needs almost as much engagement from listeners as from performers. “It’s like a church in there”, someone said to me about the Wigmore Hall. “They’re really listening”.
Die schˆne M¸llerin by Mark Padmore, Wigmore Hall
Schubert’s first song-cycle is a perfect choice with which to open a
new concert season, and the Wigmore Hall was packed on Friday evening in
anticipation of this recital by tenor Mark Padmore, much admired for the focus
and concentration of his ‘story-telling’, and Paul Lewis, one of
the most expressive and poetic of pianists today.
Haydn’s Le pescatrici at Bampton Classical Opera
Bampton Classical Opera have two areas of specialism: little-known gems of the late eighteenth-century and ‘opera in adversity’.
Humour and horror — Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the ENO, London
A massive female figure fills the whole stage at the ENO for Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, in this amazing production from La Fura del Bas. (Alex OllÈ). This production is so inherently dramatic that it brings Ligeti’s “anti-opera” onto a new level as theatre.art. .
Return to the Origins — Chamber Opera in Crisis Times
Chamber opera is coming back after a period when it appeared to be confined to experimental works.
Wigmore Hall Song Competition
‘It’s a personal choice’ / ‘Of course he won – he was the only one who sang songs’ / ‘I’ll be happy if anyone but the first one wins’ (he won) / ‘There’s only one possible choice – the third one’ (he came second)
Christof Loy speaks about the new Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House, London.
“Opera has so much to give” says Christof Loy, whose new production of Tristan und Isoldeopens at the Royal Opera House on 29th September. This opera is so familiar that everyone assumes they know it. But Loy’s approach involves going straight back to the score, and to the inherent drama in the music. “I don’t like superficial distractions”.