Chornobyldorf: An Archaeological Opera in Seven Novels

For two weeks in January each year, the Prototype Festival brings small-scale and experimental musical theater to New York.  The focus is on new works that draw not so much…

Delius: A Mass of Life

‘The status attained by Frederick Delius as a composer ensures for every new work from his pen the respectful attention of all classes of musicians.  In the case of a…

Dreams, Desires, Desolation: English Song

In Dreams, Desires, Desolation, baritone Trevor Alexander and pianist Peter Crockford present a miscellany of English song.  There are both art songs – some well-known, others less familiar – and…

Northern Opera Group Unveils Programme for the 8th Annual Leeds Opera Festival in 2024

Northern Opera Group has unveiled the programme for its 8th annual Leeds Opera Festival, taking place from 17 August to 8 September 2024. This milestone promises to captivate audiences with…

‘Love, viewed from the dark side’: Christof Loy’s production of Strauss’s Elektra at the Royal Opera House

Skimming through some of the critical literature on the myth of Electra – who, following the murder of her father, the Mycenaean King Agamemnon, at the hands of her mother…

Homelands: songs of exile, alienation and escape

Homelands is the title of this programme, curated by pianist and writer Aron Goldin and released by Rubicon last October.  However, in the context of creative artists’ representation of ‘home’,…

Longborough Festival Opera appoints Emily Gottlieb as Executive Director

Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Emily Gottlieb as its new Executive Director from April 2024. Gottlieb joins Longborough from the National Opera Studio where she served as Chief Executive for…

Lawrence Foster conducts Kodály and Bartók on Pentatone

In a tribute essay to Kodály in the 1965 Aldeburgh Festival programme Benjamin Britten suggested, ‘There can be no composer of our century who has done more for the musical…

Die schöne Müllerin: Thomas Guthrie and Barokksolistene take Schubert’s song-cycle back to its roots

The first complete performance of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin took place in Vienna’s Musikverein on 4th May 1856, by the baritone Julius Stockhausen (1826–1906) accompanied by the Viennese Vice-Hofkapellmeister, Benedict…

Songs of Antiquity: James Newby and Joseph Middleton at Wigmore Hall

Titled Songs of Antiquity, this recital by baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton began and ended both in the past and in darkness, the Prologue and Epilogue composed by…