Six years before he composed the Six Romances on Verses by British Poets (namely, Shakespeare, Raleigh and Burns), Shostakovich’s career as a composer of opera came to an abrupt halt…
Category: Recitals/Concerts
The Britten Sinfonia create subtle but stirring sonic worlds at Wigmore Hall
Old and new were interwoven in this concert presented by soprano Jennifer France and five members of the Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Jack Sheen. The ancient warp was the music…
English Touring Opera presents a powerful pairing of Tippett and Shostakovich
Michael Tippett’s 1943 cantata for tenor and piano, Boyhood’s End, was one of first vocal works composed specifically for Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten. It was first performed on 5th…
A Choral Odyssey with The Sixteen
2020 marked the 20th anniversary of The Sixteen’s annual Choral Pilgrimage tour. In 2000, founder and director Harry Christophers instituted the Choral Pilgrimage, taking the ensemble to English cathedrals from York to…
English Touring Opera perform Tippett and Britten
Covid-19 brought English Touring Opera’s Spring 2020 tour of Giulio Cesare, Così fan tutte and the St John Passion to an untimely halt, but the company got back on the…
The 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Award Final
Regular Opera Today readers will know that the annual Kathleen Ferrier Award Final is a keenly anticipated event in my musical year. This year the Competition’s progress, inevitably, was somewhat…
The Royal Opera House Christmas Concert
Lockdowns and homeworking have made pyjamas the sartorial style of choice during 2020, so who would be surprised that director Dan Dooner decided to turn the Royal Opera House’s Christmas…
Messe de Minuit: I Fagiolini
Long, long ago,Oh! so long agoChrist was born in BethlehemTo heal the world’s woe. On Christmas Eve in 1940, while he was a prisoner of war at Laufen Castle in…
VOCES8 sing Winter Tales
VOCES8’s concerts often resemble a Christmas tin of Quality Street chocolates – there’s something for everyone, and ‘favourites’ abound. But, the ensemble’s range – and ambition – is impressive; during…
Iestyn Davies and Arcangelo, at Wigmore Hall
I have a vague memory of having heard Iestyn Davies sing Handel’s Nine German Arias before at Wigmore Hall, perhaps ten or so years ago … but my review files…