Now in its fortieth year, the Presteigne Festival once again brought an eclectic mix of cultural events (music, film, art and poetry) to this unassuming Welsh border town. Under the…
Glyndebourne’s sumptuous new staging of Handel’s Alcina now available to stream on Glyndebourne Encore
Glyndebourne’s critically-acclaimed new production of Handel’s Alcina, which premiered at Glyndebourne Festival 2022, has just been released on Glyndebourne Encore. Glyndebourne Encore is a new streaming platform giving on-demand access to…
Stateliness and sincerity from John Butt and the OAE: Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Proms
Why Bach wrote the B minor Mass is a puzzle that keeps musicologists occupied. How to perform it today is a probably unresolvable question for practitioners. The Mass began life…
Mozart’s Lucio Silla: a live recording from Laurence Equilbey and the Insula orchestra
In Mozart’s Operas: a critical study (1913), Edward J. Dent pronounced Lucio Silla to be ‘a frigid piece of formality’ and ‘a mediocre opera, not even as good as Mitridate’. …
Book review: Georges Bizet’s Carmen
Nelly Furman acknowledges that “given the popularity of Carmen, any discourse on it–whether a remake of the story or a critical exercise like the one in this book–partakes of the…
Prom 49: An overwhelming ‘Resurrection’ Symphony from Sir Simon Rattle
There can be no better venue in London for a performance of Mahler’s ’Resurrection’ Symphony than the Royal Albert Hall. Those fortunate enough to acquire tickets for this sell-out concert…
Sir John in Love: Vaughan Williams’ opera is presented with wit, charm and affection by British Youth Opera
Of Shakespeare’s characters, only Sir John Falstaff has inspired so many operas. Alongside accounts of his amorous adventures by Salieri, Nicolai, Balfe, Verdi and Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ four-act comedy,…
VOCES8 and the VOCES8 Scholars perform Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G in Milton Abbey
The closing concert of VOCES8’s annual summer school and festival at Milton Abbey was a contribution to this year’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan…
Alice Coote & Julius Drake present a collection of popular Schubert lieder
Alice Coote’s recent disc, Schubert 21 Songs, joins an already well-filled and distinguished discography. She and her long-term collaborator Julius Drake curate a wide-ranging selection bookended by two versions each…
Friendship in Song: An Intimate Art – the 21st Oxford Lieder Festival
Music is a profound means of forming conversations, connections and communities. From the salon to the soirée, artists and friends have gathered to share music and ideas, politics and passions. …