Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts with prologue
Modest Mussorgsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin’s drama Boris Godunov and Nikolai Karamazin’s History of the Russian Empire
First performance: 8 February 1874 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
At the start of this lunchtime recital, Roderick Williams set out the rationale behind the programme that he and pianist Joseph Middleton presented at Wigmore Hall, bringing to a close a second terrific week of live lunchtime broadcasts, freely accessible via Wigmore Hall’s YouTube channel and BBC Radio 3.
English Touring Opera are starting a live series of conversations with the company’s Artistic Director, James Conway. Each week James will be joined by a special guest and ETO Associate Artist Bradley Travis, and they hope listeners can join us and be part of the conversation.
TÍte ‡ TÍte: The Opera Festival 2020 is rooted in themes of unreal and fictional worlds, impending political doom and apocalyptic futures, reflecting a real world in a state of unease.
12 – 28 June 2020 would have been the 73rd Aldeburgh Festival and this is the first time in its history that it will not go ahead. During the period that the Festival would have taken place, Britten Pears Arts presents a celebration of the Festival’s unique programming over more than 70 years, in collaboration with BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four, part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine, keeping the arts and culture in the homes of the public despite the impact of lockdown which has seen festivals and performance venues unable to open.
At English Touring Opera we are working to produce a live season of lyric theatre this Autumn, touring in October and November. This programme is being designed to observe social distancing guidelines in the interest of the safety of our artists and audience.
In the annals of musical controversies, the Missa Scala Aretina debate does not have the notoriety of the Querelle des Bouffons, the Monteverdi-Artusi spat, or the audience-shocking premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
Opera Holland Park is aware of the #BlackOutTuesday movement among parts of the music industry that began to gather pace yesterday. For several weeks, we have planned to mark what would have been the opening night of the 2020 season with a streaming of our production from 2019 of Un ballo in maschera on our website and YouTube channel.
Opera Holland Park’s 2021 season with resident orchestra City of London Sinfonia will open on 1 June with new productions of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Jana?cek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and a revival of the company’s celebrated 2018 staging of Verdi’s La Traviata. On what would have been the opening night of the 2020 season OHP is pleased to look to the future.
First recipient of Andrea Bocelli Foundation-Community Jameel Scholarship to start at the Royal College of Music
Today the Royal College of Music (RCM) has announced that French soprano Clara Barbier Serrano will become the first recipient of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation-Community Jameel Scholarship. The scholarship means Clara will join the world-renowned RCM Opera Studio this September on the Artist Diploma (ArtDip) in Performance course at one of the world’s greatest conservatoires, ranked the top institution for Performing Arts in the UK for five consecutive years (QS World University Rankings).