Finding myself with an hour to kill before a performance of Robert Carsen’s new production of Aida at the Royal Opera House earlier this week, I settled down in a…
Handel’s Ottone opens English Touring Opera’s 2022 Autumn Tour
In his Welcome to English Touring Opera’s 2022 Autumn Tour, James Conway reminds audiences that ‘[w]hen Handel was writing his operas in the 1720s and 30s, it was the only…
Christof Loy’s Tosca opens ENO’s 2022-23 season
There were moments during the first night of Christof Loy’s production of Tosca at the Coliseum, which opened English National Opera’s 2022-23 season, when I thought that I might be…
A compelling and ravishing Gurrelieder from Edward Gardner and the LPO
Just an hour before this performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder I had been sitting through a recital of Philip Glass’s piano Études. In one sense this was much better preparation for…
Eugene Onegin in San Francisco
Symphonic excess in a spiritless exposition of Tchaikovsky’s sacrifice of youthful love. Greek conductor Vassilis Christopoulos came to fame at the Athens Opera with an Elektra, and then gained even…
The English Concert at Wigmore Hall: Purcell and Blow
Harry Bicket assembled the ‘Dream Team’ for this English Concert programme of music by Henry Purcell and John Blow. Seven internationally renowned singers were joined by new-kid-on-the-block, countertenor Hugh Cutting,…
A wonderfully vivid evening: Blackheath Halls Opera in Bernstein’s Candide
Bernstein’s Candide has been through innumerable versions since the work’s disastrous premiere on Broadway in 1956, and in many ways, it remains a sequence of songs in search of a…
England Under the Tudors: The Marian Consort at Ightham Mote
Now in its twelfth year, the Music@Malling Festival presents concerts and events in historic venues in and around West Malling in Kent, and the Marian Consort invited us to the…
Antony and Cleopatra in San Francisco
A John Adams premiere is about the biggest news event the opera world can generate. Here’s the news from San Francisco. Antony and Cleopatra is the first opera John Adams…
Visionary new-style classical music experience to launch with starry performance of Handel’s Messiah
A new vision for live classical music with a star-studded and spectacular performance of Handel’s Messiah from Classical Everywhere, a new venture from Immersive Everywhere the multi-award-winning creators of extraordinary theatrical events …