In 1877, Ethel Smyth, aged just nineteen, travelled to Leipzig to begin her studies at the German town’s Music Conservatory, having finally worn down the resistance of her father, General J.H. Smyth.
Wagner: Excerpts from Der Ring des Niebelungen, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Paavo J‰rvi, RCA-Sony
This new recording of excerpts from Wagner’s Der Ring des Niebelungen is quite exceptional – and very unusual for this kind of disc. The words might be missing, but the fact they are proves to have rather the opposite effect. It is one of the most operatic of orchestral Wagner discs I have come across.
Wagner: Die Walk¸re, Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Simon Rattle, BR Klassik
Simon Rattle has never particularly struck me as a complex conductor. He is not, for example, like Furtw‰ngler, Maderna, Boulez or Sinopoli – all of whom brought a breadth of learning and a knowledge of composition to bear on what they conducted.
English Touring Opera to broadcast St John Passion on Easter Sunday
English Touring Opera is preparing to broadcast a performance of Bach’s St John
Passion which premiered in London on 5 March 2020 and was due to tour
nationally.
Strauss – Ariadne auf Naxos (Salzburg 1954)
Only a few months following the premiere of Der Rosenkavalier, Hugo von Hofmannsthal proposed a new opera to Richard Strauss based on MoliËre’s comedy-ballet, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (in German, Der B¸rger als Edelmann).
MOZART: Die Entf¸hrung aus dem Serail (Berlin 1949)
Die Entf¸hrung aus dem Serail, Singspiel in 3 Acts.
Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on an earlier libretto by
Christoph Friedrich Bretzner.
MOZART: Die Entf¸hrung aus dem Serail (Aix-En-Provence 1954)
Die Entf¸hrung aus dem Serail, Singspiel in 3 Acts.
Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on an earlier libretto by
Christoph Friedrich Bretzner.
Participants announced for the first ever Wexford Factory
Twelve singers, in a two-week academy, with guest tutors including world-renowned tenor Juan Diego-FlÛrez as part of Wexford Festival Opera 2020.
The Met announces plans to live-stream an all-star At-Home Gala
The Met announces plans to live-stream an all-star At-Home Gala on Saturday, April 25, at 1pm EDT/6pm BST. This free concert will feature performances by more than 40 of the company’s most prominent artists, live from their own quarantines around the world.