The critics condemned the ‘entertainment’ as a ridiculous hoax. Noel Coward stormed out. After the show, one disgruntled elderly lady was rumoured to be lying in wait for the ‘soloist’…
Exile and Isolation: Julian Anderson’s Suite from Exiles, the LSO and Simon Rattle
Often you go to concerts and the programming isn’t especially obvious – why are these works being played besides each other? This is particularly the case with concertos and symphonies.…
Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House
As an exploration of 18th-century class structures Le nozze di Figaro is a timeless classic which no number of revivals will diminish. With its thumb-nosing at society’s upper echelons, it’s no…
Iestyn Davies and Arcangelo: Bach cantatas
In 2017, Iestyn Davies added an MBE, for his services to music, and a Gramophone Award, for his Hyperion recording with Jonahan Cohen and Arcangelo of three of Bach’s solo…
Hasse’s serenata, La Semele, at Wigmore Hall
The cultural influence of Ovid’s Metamorphoses is immeasurable. A source of inspiration for artists, sculptors, novelists, poets and composers for centuries, its myths have furnished countless composers and librettists with…
Canciones: Bach-Brouwer – cultural fusions from Andreas Scholl and Edin Karamazov
The mere mention of the word ‘crossover’ can be enough to raise the hackles of classical music lovers for whom the genre-splicer suggests not a genuine instinct for synchronous musical…
Florencia en el Amazonas at Lyric Opera of Chicago
For its final production during Fall 2021, Lyric Opera of Chicago staged Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas with Ana María Martínez in the title role of the diva confronting…
The Other Erlking: Nicholas Mogg and Jâms Coleman present the songs and ballads of Carl Loewe
A cursory scan down the contents list of The Other Erlking, recently released by baritone Nicholas Mogg and pianist Jâms Coleman on the Champs Hill label, might mislead, titles such…
Es ist ein Ros: Dresdner Kammerchor sing Praetorius
Some composer-anniversaries are feted – it sometimes seems as if Beethoven 250 is still running – and other musical milestones do not emerge from the shadows. 2021 was the 50th,…
Juliana: a ‘naturalistic tragedy’ for our times
In the Preface to his 1888 play, Miss Julie, August Strindberg argued for a new, less artificial form of dialogue – associative, flowing naturally, as in life: ‘I have avoided…