Hot off the press in 1610 was A Musicall Banquet furnished with varietie of delicious Ayres, Collected out of the best Authors in English, French, Spanish and Italian – a compilation…
Category: Performances
Les Vêpres Siciliennes in Palermo
Ossia I Vespri Siciliani takes its name from the evening prayer to which the faithful are called by the ringing of bells. Specifically the bells of Verdi’s Sicilian vespers signal…
Kát’a Kabanova in Rome
The Opera di Roma marks the centenary of Janacek’s intimate domestic tragedy Kat’a Kabanova with a new cast for Richard Jones’ prize winning, 2019 Covent Garden production. Reportedly spell binding…
Svadba: Ana Sokolović’s opera is creatively re-imagined through image and movement
In Germany, wedding guests smash piles of crockery the night before the ceremony, the custom of Polterabend being thought to bring good fortune to the bride and groom in their…
ETO at Home: Ferrandini’s Il pianto di Maria
English Touring Opera’s ETO at Home project has seen the company produce a series of films of operas, large scale vocal works, chamber music and song which can be viewed…
Exile and Isolation: Julian Anderson’s Suite from Exiles, the LSO and Simon Rattle
Often you go to concerts and the programming isn’t especially obvious – why are these works being played besides each other? This is particularly the case with concertos and symphonies.…
Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House
As an exploration of 18th-century class structures Le nozze di Figaro is a timeless classic which no number of revivals will diminish. With its thumb-nosing at society’s upper echelons, it’s no…
Hasse’s serenata, La Semele, at Wigmore Hall
The cultural influence of Ovid’s Metamorphoses is immeasurable. A source of inspiration for artists, sculptors, novelists, poets and composers for centuries, its myths have furnished countless composers and librettists with…
Florencia en el Amazonas at Lyric Opera of Chicago
For its final production during Fall 2021, Lyric Opera of Chicago staged Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas with Ana María Martínez in the title role of the diva confronting…
Angels and Demons: Christmas Eve with I Fagiolini
I Fagiolini can always be relied upon to bring a double shot of invention and intellect to a choral Christmas cocktail. Stalwarts of VOCES8’s Live from London festivals, their Monterverdian…