If you thought that fairy tales were for children, then this fantastic – in all senses of the word – double bill at the Royal College of Music would teach…
A superb Yonghoon Lee heads a magnificent cast at Covent Garden in Antonio Pappano’s first Turandot
Is Turandot the last great Italian opera of the twentieth century? It’s a common and widely written viewpoint – indeed, William Ashbrook and Harold Powers called it ‘the end of…
WNO’s radical Magic Flute misfires
Out with the old and in with the new is the modus operandi for aspiring operatic directors. In this new production of The Magic Flute Daisy Evans takes her prerogative…
Tongues of Fire: James Gilchrist sings Eric McElroy’s song-cycles with wonderful discernment and beauty
“Composing a song-cycle is like writing a philosophical essay,” replies composer and pianist Eric McElroy when I ask him why he is so drawn to the genre. We’re meeting in…
Lohengrin at the Met
Québécois director François Girard probably seemed an obvious choice to design the Met’s new Lohengrin. His recent opera stagings are as celebrated as his music-obsessed movies, including the classic Thirty-two…
Bewitching Hänsel & Gretel from Mid Wales Opera
Whenever Hänsel and Gretel comes around, it’s always an opportunity for a director to bring a fresh perspective on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Humperdinck’s 1893 stage work, hailed by Richard…
English Touring Opera’s spring tour sets out on an Italian sojourn
With the familial knots of the guest list for Charles III’s coronation still to be unravelled and the UK still stretching itself on the Brexit-rack, Il viaggio a Reims, Rossini’s…
Tristan et Isolde in Toulouse
Well beyond all Tristan basics the Opéra de Toulouse boasted two ravishing singers and an electrifying conductor in this revival of its excellent 2007 Nicolas Joël production. Austrian tenor Nikolai…
London Handel Festival: In the Realms of Sorrow at Stone Nest
Charcoaled-eyes and glitter-tears. Swirling coils of murky smoke. Twilight-zone lighting. Sensuousness verging on violence. Certainly not what Handel’s wealthy Roman patrons would have experienced when the young composer presented private…
Florian Störtz announced as winner of International Handel Singing Competition
On Thursday 16th March 2023, baritone Florian Störtz was announced as the winner of the International Handel Singing Competition following the final presented by internationally acclaimed soprano Danielle de Niese, which took place at London’s St George’s Church, Hanover Square.…