It may not have been possible for Snape Maltings to host the Aldeburgh Festival this year or last, but the Maltings have not been silent and the Summer at Snape…
Category: Recitals/Concerts
VOCES8 open Live for London Summer with a sprinkle of stardust
VOCES8’s new Live from London summer festival opened in ‘sparkling’ fashion with a characteristically mixed repertoire programme, entitled Stardust. Much was reassuringly familiar, and very welcome: the perfect blending and…
Handel’s London Altos: Iestyn Davies at Kings Place
At Kings Place it’s currently half-portions and double-helpings: to ‘get round’ the 50% capacity restrictions, the answer is simply to perform the concert twice – and Iestyn Davies and the…
Leeds Lieder Festival: Benjamin Britten’s Five Canticles
Benjamin Britten’s five Canticles span his compositional career, from 1947 to 1974, and reflect the eclectic musical, poetic and cultural influences and idioms which he integrated into an independent expressive…
Natalya Romaniw and Iain Burnside: a wonderful lunchtime recital at Leeds Lieder 2021
Natalya Romaniw’s compelling but frustratingly foreshortened debut as Cio-Cio San at English National Opera in February 2020 was one of the last live performances I heard before the theatres of…
Covid’s Metamorphoses: an anniversary Song Gala at Wigmore Hall leads the way to hope and renewal
A programme entitled Covid’s Metamorphoses might not seem a very auspicious way to celebrate a 120th anniversary, but, curated by pianist Graham Johnson, this special Song Gala placed themes of…
Handel in Rome: Ensemble Marsyas at Wigmore Hall
All roads lead to Rome. And, that’s where George Frideric Handel, not yet 22 years of age, arrived at the end of 1706. Eager to perfect his skills in composition…
Met Stars Live in Concert: Three Divas
From Four Wagnerians to Three Divas; from the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden to the 250-year-old theatre of Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles. And, for Christine Goerke, from the opera stage…
Music fit for an Emperor: Bampton Classical Opera at St John’s Smith Square
It’s a brave company that celebrates the return of live performance with an opera titled La corona, but ambitious, innovative and imaginative describe Bampton Classical Opera perfectly, and it was…