MusicalCriticism.com: Classical Concert and Opera Reviews, News and Interviews

Time 2020-11-08 11:06:24

Web Name: MusicalCriticism.com: Classical Concert and Opera Reviews, News and Interviews

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Opera Review: A brand new Carmen for Royal Opera In the programme for Bizet's Carmen, Kasper Holten remarks that the title character is a mysterious figure, and that "we can never really know who she is". This seemed ironic: even at the end of the opera, I was not left with a clear idea...more Opera Review: A brand new Magic Flute for English National Opera First and foremost, English National Opera’s new production of The Magic Flute is an extra-ordinary theatrical event. Regular theatre goers might already have seen at least some of the technical...more Opera Review: A disappointing new Die Fledermaus at ENO The Coliseum curtain was already up; a large and luxurious bed to one side of the vast, empty stage, a giant pocket watch suspended ominously over the other. The overture began and Rosalinde was revealed, alone in bed, writhing about in the throes...more Concert Review: Sophie Bevan and friends perform Goethe Lieder at the Oxford Lieder Festival This concert marked a milestone event: the end of a three year undertaking to record the first complete set of Hugo Wolf’s songs (including twenty-two premiere recordings). The project was brought to a close with the Festival’s third and final instalment of the composer’s Goethe-Lieder (performed over the space of five days). Many of the final...more Opera Review: A starry revival of Wozzeck at Covent Garden It’s not hard to imagine Berg being captivated by Georg Buchner’s Woyzeck when he saw one of its first performances in Vienna in 1914; written in 1836, and left unfinished at its author’s premature death, it’s a play out of time, a bizarre, fragmentary artefact that meshed so perfectly with the modernist aesthetic...more Opera Review: The beloved English National Opera Production of Madam Butterfly returns Now in its fifth revival at ENO, Anthony Minghella's production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly seems only to get stronger as time passes. It is certainly one of the best things ENO does, and its strength rests not only in its spectacular beauty...more Opera Review: Beethoven's Fidelio at ENO Six years ago, in 2007, we interviewed a promising young South African baritone called Jacques Imbrailo and chatted to him about his forthcoming appearance in Britten’s Owen Wingrave at the Linbury in the ROH...more Opera Review: Le nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro is exceedingly difficult to perform well. The opera is unlike any other: short and snappy arias, recitatives packed with information and witticisms, and music that at moments reaches right into the soul of the listener and, just as often, deep into the belly to provoke raucous laughter. It is not without its flaws but nevertheless it...more Opera Review: The ROH's revival of Elektra After a low-octane Turandot (Lise Lindstrom’s titular performance aside) to open the season, it was nice to return to Covent Garden and find that the emotional temperature considerably raised. Richard Strauss’s first collaboration with his star librettist Hugo von Hofmannstahl remains one of the most searing operatic works of the 20th century, and on a...more Opera Review: The Royal Opera's season opens with Turandot The Royal Opera began its new season with Andrei Serban‘s seasoned production of Puccini’s Turandot. With epic sets designed by Sally Jacobs and lighting by F. Mitchell Dana, the traditional yet highly stylized production perfectly evokes a China long since dead whilst also perfectly complementing...more Opera Review: Opera Holland Park's new production of L'elisir d'amore Opera buffa doesn’t get good PR. Amongst scholars, the genre is often overshadowed by the grandiose or serious (read: academically legitimate) themes so well communicated by its looming cousin opera seria--even after a renewed interest in some of the... more Concert Review: Music in Szentbakkalla, Hungary Surrounded by the low but beautiful scenic mountains of the Balaton-Highland, Szentbékkálla is a picturesque village in Káli-basin, Hungary. The entire population of the village consists of two hundred residents although visitors seeking a peaceful rest or scenic mountain-walks swell...more Opera Review: Glyndebourne's Hippolyte et Aricie It has taken Rameau’s five act opera Hippolyte et Aricie a mere 280 years to travel from Paris to its first production at Glyndebourne: was it worth the wait? Well, not only was this the first Hippolyte at Glyndebourne, it was the first ever... more Opera Review: Garsington Opera's Hansel and Gretel The more I experience opera in the new steel and glass pavilion built for Garsington Opera at Wormsley, the more I like it. The space is vaguely reminiscent of the old structure in the grounds of Garsington Manor, but the acoustics are better, the sight lines generous... more Opera Review: Grange Parks's production of Messanger's Fortunio ull marks and four stars to Grange Park Opera for rounding off their 2013 season with a delightful French operetta of 1907 – the slight, elegant, cynical tale of an aristocratic French lady Jaqueline who sleeps not with her husband, the elderly notary Maitre Andre, but with first one lover, the... more Opera Review: The Royal Opera's La rondine One of the great tragedies of Puccini’s music is that, for much of its lifetime, it has been measured with a Germanic yardstick, often being reduced to suffer humiliation at the hands of Wagner’s most devoted followers—those who listen for cold, emotionless nuances. Of course, in academia it’s not quite as overtly bleak... more CD Review: Sony releases Bye Bye Birdie, Seventeen, Kinky Boots, Chaplin and many others Broadway musicals don’t come more charming than Seventeen. Musical theatre in 1951 had much more challenging fare on offer, including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I and Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls, as well as zippy shows like Irving Berlin’s Call Me Madam and the satirical Jule Styne revue Two on the Aisle, so it’s understandable that in such a context this chocolate-box musical comedy... more Opera Review: Thomas Hampson in the Royal Opera's Simon Boccanegra Written after his not-so-successful first attempt at grand opera Les vêpes siciliennes, Simon Boccanegra still reflects Verdi’s two years in Paris and is one of his darkest operas, with musical characteristics common to the city’s grandest form of art: orchestral colors that have deep hues, long flowing melodic lines... more Opera Interview: Baritone Jacques Imbrailo chats about Glyndebourne's Billy Budd and future plans Six years ago, in 2007, we interviewed a promising young South African baritone called Jacques Imbrailo and chatted to him about his forthcoming appearance in Britten’s Owen Wingrave at the Linbury in the ROH...more Opera Review: The Royal Opera's season opens with Turandot The Royal Opera began its new season with Andrei Serban‘s seasoned production of Puccini’s Turandot. With epic sets designed by Sally Jacobs and lighting by F. Mitchell Dana, the traditional yet highly stylized production perfectly evokes a China long since dead whilst also perfectly complementing...more Opera Review: Opera Holland Park's new production of L'elisir d'amore Opera buffa doesn’t get good PR. Amongst scholars, the genre is often overshadowed by the grandiose or serious (read: academically legitimate) themes so well communicated by its looming cousin opera seria--even after a renewed interest in some of the... more Opera Review: Wolf-Ferrari's I gioielli della Madonna at Opera Holland Park Opera Holland Park have carved out a valuable niche in reviving neglected examples of late-19th/early-20th century Italian repertoire; recent years have seen welcome stagings of, for example, Zandonai’s oddly beguiling Francesca di Rimini, Mascagni’s hugely likeable... more Concert Review: Versatile Britten brings the Aldeburgh Festival to an end The five performances of Peter Grimes at the heart of this year’s Aldeburgh Festival (two in concert, three on the beach) may have overshadowed some of the other musical offerings, but Britten’s versatility as a composer was illustrated in different ways as the Festival drew to a close. Of huge interest was an evening called Britten Dances, given by the Royal...more Opera Interview: Soprano Ailyn Perez chats about Glyndebourne's Falstaff One of the undoubted highlights of the 2013 Glyndebourne season is the joyful revival of the Richard Jones production of Falstaff that first saw the light of day in 2009. And one of the undoubted highlights in that revival is the triumphant assertion of the role of Alice Ford by Glyndebourne debutante Ailyn Pérez. Four weeks into the run, we caught up with the young, prizewinning soprano between ...more OperaReview: A welcome revival of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers at OperaHolland Park Bizet s Les Pêcheurs de perles is not an opera thatusually adapts well when staged by smaller opera companies. Topicallyit is in the same camp as Halévy s Jaguarita L Indienne for the primacyof dramatic impetus given to the female role but also for what aretermed its literary qualities: a substantial focus on historical orgeographical exploration coupled with...more OperaReview: Peter Grimes on the beach at the Aldeburgh FestivalNo production of Peter Grimes can ever have started with two low-flyingpasses over stage setting and audience by a Spitfire, but that is whathappened at 20.32 on the opening night (of three) of this year's majorevent at the Aldeburgh Festival--Grimes on the Beach. "Glastonburycomes to Aldeburgh" was one of the muttered comments that greeted me,and the speaker had a point: on a cold, blustery June evening, in theteeth of a north easterly wind, with the sea crashing on the shingle...more OperaReview: Britten's Death in Venice at ENO Benjamin Britten'scentenary year is celebrated with an outstanding production of Death inVenice by the English National Opera. The high quality event, ENO'srevival of Deborah Warner's 2007 production, serves not only as aworthy tribute to Britten...more OperaReview: Opera Holland Park presents Madama Butterfly Thereis a gentle breeze, with only the slightest chill, as the warm sun setswhilst Puccini's "Vogliatemi bene" hits with full force those enjoyingone of Opera Holland Park's new productions. This one is, of course,Madama Butterfly, and..more OperaReview: Britten's Peter Grimes at the Aldeburgh Festival Itis 13 years since the Snape Maltings Concert Hall last resounded to afull-scale, semi-staged concert performance of Peter Grimes. And now,as then, it seemed on occasion during the second performance of theopera as the big opener for the 2013 Aldeburgh Festival that the stormmusic conjured up...more OperaReview: Garsington Opera presents Mozart's Die Entführung aus demSerai The 2013 Garsington Opera season opened its third year atits new home on the Wormsley Estate with a propitious omen: for once,the weather was balmy and the beautiful steel and glass structure thatencloses the performance space was..more OperaReview: The Royal Opera stages a new production of Britten's GlorianaA cursory glance at the programme inset gives one brief pause forthought: on Monday 24 June 2013 (a performance that was relayed live tocinemas all over the UK) the Royal Opera gave their 16th performance ofGloriana. Sixteen performances in sixty years hardly a runaway boxoffice success. And the more I watched the quirky, stylish but...more OperaReview: Garsington Opera presents Mozart's Die Entführung aus demSerai The 2013 Garsington Opera season opened its third year atits new home on the Wormsley Estate with a propitious omen: for once,the weather was balmy and the beautiful steel and glass structure thatencloses the performance space was..more ConcertsReview: The Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner at theAldeburgh Festival For his first appearance at this year sAldeburgh Festival, John Eliot Gardiner chose a well-balanced programmeof choral and instrumental music by Bach to showcase the talents of hischoir and of two fine violinists with whom he has long made music Kati Debretzeni played the A minor concerto in the first half...more OperaReview: English National Opera premieres The Perfect AmericanPhilip Glass and Rudy Wurlitzer's The Perfect American, which uses thelast few months of Walt Disney's life as a lens to explore Disney'spersonal character and wider themes related to wider American culture,doesn't really work as an opera, at least for much of its running time.Based on Peter Stephan Jungk's eponymous book and produced byImprobable in collaboration...more OperaReview: OHP presents Cav and Pag Opera Holland Parkopened its 2013 season with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana andLeoncavallo's Pagliacci, presented as a traditional double-bill. Bothare new productions for a company that in the past has proven itself asan innovative, stylish, and resourceful producer of opera...more Interview:Joshua Hopkins about Glyndebourne's revival of Le nozze di FigaroFor the 2013 revival of director Michael Grandage's Le Nozze di Figaroat Glyndebourne (running from 8 June to 2 August), the role of CountAlmaviva--one of opera's great comic/dramatic baritone roles--has goneto young Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins...more OperaReview: Verdi's Falstaff returns to Glyndebourne WhenGlyndebourne asked Richard Jones to direct a new Falstaff for theFestival four years ago, they must have hoped he would come up with aproduction worth reviving. And four years later, that is precisely whatthey have done, in this Verdi anniversary year. I reviewed the originalproduction, which I loved, and described it as a Falstaff that lookedwonderful, played absolutely naturally and dazzled musically. If Iwithhold half a star on this occasion the opening night... more OperaReview: Glyndebourne presents Strauss's Ariadne auf NaxosFor their first new production of a Richard Strauss opera since thehouse was rebuilt in 1994, Glyndebourne - or more specifically,Glyndebourne's outgoing musical director Vladimir Jurowski - chose toopen the 2013 season by mounting the 1916 version of the perenniallyfascinating...more OperaPreview: Garsington Opera Preview 2013 There were those whowondered how long Garsington Opera would be able to continue and tosurvive when it finally had to depart Garsington Manor, a few yearsafter the death of Garsington founder Leonard Ingrams in 2005, but theyreckoned without the extraordinary loyalty and fund-raising ability of a core...more OperaPreview: Wasfi Kani in Conversation and Grange Park Opera's 2013 SeasonAnniversaries are in the air this year, with worldwide exposure of thegreater (and lesser) operatic works of Britten, Verdi and Wagnereverywhere, but at the Grange in Northington, a few miles north ofWinchester where Grange Park Opera is preparing for its 16th annualopera festival...more OperaInterview: Lianna Haroutounian on the Royal Opera's Don CarloHaroutounian prefers the five-act version of Don Carlo in Italian, butfor an insightful dramatic reason: The audience gets the completeexperience of her story if there are five acts. In Fontainebleau, wesee Elisabetta as a young, happy, brave girl; her main question in lifeis will the prince love me? In an instant, she goes from thisyouthful euphoria, a representation of young love, to resignation asshe embraces the gravity of her [public] role, her fate. The five-actversion reveals the contrast between...more CDReview: Sony rereleases Classical Barbra with bonus tracks February 2013 saw the release of the newly remastered edition ofClassical Barbra, a major cross-over album by pop star BarbraStreisand, including two previously unreleased tracks. Originallyreleased in 1976, the album's production began three years earlier withClaus Ogerman at the helm in the roles of producer, arranger... more OperaReview: Puccini's La bohème returns to ENO One of thegreatest strengths of Puccini s La bohème is its sentimentality. Butthis is no run-of-the-mill sentimental sap, this istwilight-of-the-nineteenth-century-Italian sap, which means that thosefeelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia are exacerbated not onlyby the self-indulgence typical of feeling... more OperaReview: The Royal Opera honours Sir Colin Davis with The Magic Flute Perchance to dream Hamlet s soliloquy is difficult to forget whilstsitting through David McVicar s production of Mozart s Die Zauberflöte;not for its metaphorical fluidity but rather for its literalconnotations: the production is like a dream, but one that continuallyvacillates between joy and nightmare as the opera progresses. Is thistoo gratuitous? For once, there is...more OperaReview: A new Nabucco for Covent Garden in the Verdibicentenary year What does Nabucco mean for the modern subject?Depending on the production, it s safe to say that one of three majorthemes will be highlighted. In the near ubiquitous presence of thechorus, one finds the plight of exile in the face of extreme hardshipor political brutality; a struggle for power and loyalty as illustratedby... more OperaReview: Written on Skin at the Royal Opera House In a 2010article, the composer Christopher Fox suggested that successful modelsfor the composition of opera--for the operatic marriage of drama, wordsand music--'grew out of a radical re-thinking of theatrical convention;new subjects demanded new dramatic modes'. In other words, in answer tothe common... more OperaReview: Roberto Alagna features in Madama Butterfly at the LiceuHaving seen productions of Puccini s Madama Butterfly thatoften verge on the overtly political, it was refreshing to see the Leiserand Caurier production at the Gran Teatre del Liceuin Barcelona, which essentially focuses on and fleshes out the dramatictension inherent in the dénouement of the opera... more OperaReview: Medea at ENO Operatically speaking, the myth of thewronged woman and child murderess Medea has largely been filteredthrough Cherubini s dramatic 1797 setting, especially since MariaCallas s celebrated assumption of the role (not to mention her amazing,non-singing... more OperaReview: Rossini's The Barber of Seville returns to ENO IsRossini s Barber of Seville the quintessential opera buffa? In terms ofits musical structure, plot (old man battles young, aristocratic fopover pretty rich girl and loses), and witty dénouement, perhaps. But quitessential, like definitive, always raises eyebrows thesedays... more OperaReview: Puccini's Tosca returns to Covent Garden In hismagnum opus, À la recherche du temps perdu, Marcel Proust wrote thatsadism is at the root of all melodrama. Although he was likelycontemplating operatic tradition generally, was there a particularmelodrama living in his memory as exemplar? Perhaps not, but his maximaptly applies to one of the greatest melodramas of all... more ConcertReview: Joyce DiDonato at the Barbican Joyce DiDonato is aninternational phenomenon. It is a status that owes much to anincredibly successful year. DiDonato won a Grammy in 2012; sped on inthe early part of 2013 to a series of deeply committed performances ofthe rare Maria Stuarda at the Met; and recently embarked on a Europeantour compulsory after an international opera star records an album. Themarketing department at Virgin Classics must... more OperaReview: Rigoletto Live from the Met There is an intriguingserendipity between the sharp dramatic irony of Verdi s Rigoletto andMichael Mayer s new, operatic debut production at the Met. Mayer stransposition to 1960s Las Vegas, whilst not wholly original (JonathanMiller did something similar at ENO in ... more ConcertReview: The King's Singers perform religious a cappella music and andpop songs in Ann Arbor While many young University of Michigancouples spent their Valentine s evening on dinner dates, nearly onethousand Ann Arborites found themselves at a rather unexpected venue onsuch an amorous holiday a church sanctuary. Perhaps returning to theholy origins of Saint Valentine s Day... more Reviews: Eugene Onegin at Covent Garden and La traviata atENO "Triumph" and "Failure" are strong words to describe the impactof an opera performance. Both are bold and unambiguous; they leavelittle doubt about what "really happened" that night. Imaginationsmight easily run wild. But there is a problem in using words likethese, adjectives that... more OperaReview: The Met's's Maria Stuarda comes to the UK on the bigscreen Maria Stuarda had trouble getting off the ground between1834-35, the period it had its two premiers in Naples and Milanrespectively. In pre-unified Italy, depicting royaltyon-stage--especially royals who even by today's standards insult eachother... more OperaReview: Birtwistle's The Minotaur returns to Covent GardenThe Minotaur premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2008 and here, forits first revival over four years later, the three central singers madewelcome returns to their respective roles. Pride of place must go toSir John Tomlinson, who produced an astonishing singing... more Interview:Nicola Luisotti in conversation about his appointment as the new musicdirector of the historic Teatro di San Carlo of Naples 'How do yousay excited in Italian?' That is a question that came upduring my conversation with maestro Nicola Luisotti. When speaking alanguage different than English, it is always difficult to find a termthat implies what this one does an emotional state, a high-level ofenergy... more OperaReview: Opera North's new production of Verdi's OtelloVerdi s lifelong project to reconcile the extremes of the national andthe personal, the grand and the intimate, come to a head in hispenultimate opera, Otello. His well-known passion for Shakespearecannot have been the only motivation for his decision to return tocomposition with this piece: the internal tensions surrounding... more CDReview Roundup: Sony's Masterworks Broadway series features AChristmas Story, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and more Two brand new studio recordings and three varied reissues highlight thefull-on dedication of Sony's Masterworks Broadway wing to thepreservation of musical theatre. Spanning over sixty years ofrecordings... more CDReview Roundup: The new Broadway Records label offers Wildhorn, Osnesand Jonas Broadway Records is an exciting new record label withgreat potential. Launched last summer, the label is devoted to musicaltheatre repertoire and comprises cast albums from Broadway andOff-Broadway, new studio recordings and single-artist albums. Incontrast to Sony's Masterworks Broadway... more OperaReview: The Royal Opera unveils a new production of Meyerbeer's Robertle diable When it premiered in 1831, Robert le diable was theworld's first blockbuster; within five years of its first performance,Robert had already been mounted at the Paris Opera over 100 times andhad traveled to London, Brussels, Berlin... more OperaReview: American Symphony Orchestra's concert performance of Bellini's Beatricedi Tenda For many years, the excellent Collegiate Chorale andtheir frequent collaborators, the American Symphony Orchestra, havedone admirable work in performing operatic rarities that would nototherwise be heard in New York City. Operaphiles wait eagerly fortheir annual offerings, and this year... more OperaReview: ENO revives Jonathan Miller's classic production of TheMikado The latest revival of Jonathan Miller'sproduction of The Mikado for the English NationalOpera feels as fresh now as on its first outing overtwenty-six years ago. This is a timeless production which couldcontinue to delight audiences for years or, indeed, for decades tocome.... more OperaReview: Montemezzi's La Nave receives a rare outing Fortunehas been unkind to the opera Italo Montemezzi considered hismasterpiece, the 1918 epic La Nave. At its successful prima in Milan,where Tullio Serafin conducted, critics gushed over it and audiencesidentified strongly with its nationalist... more OperaReview: A new Carmen from ENO There is no other opera inthe canon--even one of Verdi's--that is quite as embedded in thecollective imagination of Western culture as Bizet's Carmen. Everyoneknows the habanera and Escamillo's anthem, and the idea of a femmefatale is still rehashed today in television and film. Much can be said(and much has been said).... more OperaReview: Vaughan Williams's The Pilgrim's Progress revived byEnglish National Opera From the grave hymn tune with which it opensto the final radiant fade-out with which it concludes nearly two and ahalf hours later, Vaughan Williams' final stage work, more oratoriothan opera, remains a problematic piece, offering contemporaryaudiences a Marmite-like... more Operainterview: Ruxandra Donose discusses English National Opera's new CarmenAlthough she looks unassuming enough, Ruxandra Donose exudes a certainair that screams passion. Perhaps it is her fierce Romanian heritage orher well-spoken demeanor that shines through most intensely... more OperaReview: Live telecast of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito from theMet The Roman Emperor Titus was by all accounts a forgivingman. At least when compared to the likes of Caligula, Nero andCommodus. But even Titus (or Tito, as he s known in this opera)would have been hard-pressed to find anything in need of a pardon atthe Met s handsomely... more OperaReview: Live telecast of Adès' The Tempest from the Met In a 1963 episode of the expressionist television series TheTwilight Zone, a desperate screenwriter uses black magic to summonShakespeare to the present. The Met's new production of ThomasAdès's The Tempest, broadcast live from Lincoln Center lastSaturday, brings the Bard and expressionism together once again onlythe "dark arts".... more ConcertReview: The Mariinsky Orchestra, Gergiev and Matsuev perform in AnnArbor Exactly two years ago this month, Maestro Valery Gergievintroduced Ann Arbor to his compatriot and protégé, the young pianistDenis Matsuev. The pianist's performance of Rachmaninov's ThirdConcerto with the Mariinsky Orchestra... more ConcertReview: Mark Elder conducts Donizetti's Belisario at theBarbican for Opera Rara Although it comes on the heels of hisoft-performed Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti's Belisario is rarelyperformed in major venues outside of Italy despite its obviousstrengths as a work bursting with musical and dramatic delights. Thisperiod of composition in Donizetti's oeuvre is... more OperaReview: Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis revived by EnglishTouring Opera Bold, adventurous programming from ETO in theirautumn tour this year saw two relative rareties on the operatic stage,The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies and The Emperor of Atlantis byViktor Ullmann, coupled... more OperaReview: The ROH revives Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore withRoberto Alagna Like a host of other Italian libretti of the period,Romani's libretto for Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore was the result of anadaptation of a pre-existing French source the rather slight text byScribe for Auber's Le Philtre - to which it famously adds considerablepathos and... more ConcertReview: Christopher Warren-Green leads the LCO in London The LondonChamber Orchestra has a loyal following, a distinguished body ofpatrons and can be known to punch above its musical weight.Forits second, and well-attended Cadogan Hall concert in the 2012/13season, its charismatic conductor Christopher Warren-Green... more ConcertReview: Bychkov and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra perform Wagner andStrauss at Carnegie Hall Richard Wagner, hiding out from the law(he had participated in a failed revolutionary coup) at the home of oneof his benefactors, Otto Wesendonck, not only seduced the man's wife,the poetess Mathilde, but also romanced and eventually married hisprominent... more Interview:Joyce DiDonato on I capuleti, the opera industry and 'theOlympics of the art world' American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonatoreturns to the San Francisco Opera this month as Romeo in Icapuleti e i Montecchi. The SFO's audiences will remember herthrilling Rosina in the 2003-04 production of Il barbiere diSiviglia - a role she has... more ConcertReview: Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in New YorkExtraordinary music was the feature of the two all-Brahms evenings bythe London Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall this week. Ihappened to be in London when the announcement came that Valery Gergievwould be named as the new music director and shared the view... more OperaReview: Don Giovanni returns to ENO After so manyproductions of Mozart's Don Giovanni last season, this space has playedhost to my annoyance at the lack of productions of the operaunconcerned with morality. Is it really so much to ask that after 200years we begin defamiliarizing the familiar? Imagine my surprise, then,when all along there was... more Interview:Nicole Cabell on San Francisco Opera s I capuleti and thefuture of opera Californian-born soprano Nicole Cabell is fastbecoming one of the most talked-about singers around. In 2005 she wonthe Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, a success that launchedher onto the international operatic circuit. Her most recent rolesinclude Micaëla in Carmen... more ConcertReview: Murray Perahia plays Haydn, Schubert, Chopin in Ann ArborAfter witnessing the University of Michigan's 12-9 football victoryover longtime rival Michigan State University on Saturday, AnnArborites had a reason to celebrate. While sports fans crowded intolocal bars, another set of fans made their way... more ConcertReview: Leonard Elschenbroich plays the Elgar Cello Concert with theWroclaw Philharmonic The uprush of the strings to the firsttriumphant E flat major full orchestral chords of Elgar s concertoverture In the South normally tell you what sort of performance is instore. Elgar dedicated the piece to his friend and wealthy... more ConcertReview: Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ann ArborIn May 1913, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra became the first ensembleto play in Ann Arbor's newly constructed Hill Auditorium. In honor ofthe concert hall's centennial season, the University Musical Society Ann Arbor's premiere arts presenter invited the CSO back to Hill toperform on Thursday... more OperaReview: A new production of Handel's Julius Caesar at ENOHändel s Julius Caesar at the English National Opera is excitingtheatre not least because of the magnificent dancing of the FabulousBeast Dance Theatre but the production may need some getting used to.I attended last week s dress rehearsal and was deeply unhappy with theconcept... more ReviewDiary: Recent concert events in Budapest This concert formed partof a week of celebrations of Liszt in the Esztergom 'Vatican' that isin the seat of the Archbishop of Esztergom and it was organised forthe fifth year by the Liszt Society. Liszt is mainly known by musiclovers for his piano pieces and by few of his orchestralcompositions... more OperaReview: The last-ever revival of Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Fluteat ENO It is hard to argue with those who, from time to time,expect new productions of old masterpieces. New approaches to old worksneed to be considered to keep with the changing times and to keep greatworks alive. However, I for one find it shameful that Nicholas Hytner sexcellent production... more OperaReview: Mixed results from a new production of Martinu's Juliettaat ENO Ah, reality. That oh-so-difficult-to-define concept thatopera has never had a good relationship with, either in or out of theopera house (verismo being the case-in-point). Luckily, EnglishNational Opera has chosen an excellent production team to deal with theintricacies - and problems... more PromsReview: Prom 57 featured the Gustav Mahler JugendorchesterCurrently celebrating its 25th anniversary, Claudio Abbado s acclaimedGustav Mahler Jugendorchester is now almost as old as its most seniormembers. With its players drawn annually from among Europe s mostmusically gifted young people, the orchestra s first quarter-... more BBCProms Review: Glyndebourne brings Le nozze di Figaro to theProms It s difficult to imagine a venue less like Glyndebourne swarm, intimate opera house than the Royal Albert Hall. Nosinger-friendly wooden panelling here just cavernous spaces and thoseaerial mushrooms. As we ve seen time and time again, what suits adeluxe modern theatre doesn t always transfer well elsewhere.... more BBCProm Review: The John Cage Centenary is marked by an ambitious PromWhatever one might say about the stodginess of Proms programming, it isundeniable that giving over a full evening Prom to a celebration ofJohn Cage in his centenary year was a brave and commendable move fromthe BBC and Roger Wright. Even more commendable than this basic fact -which may after all have been accomplished with hedging of bets andfallings... more BBCProm Review: Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in Prom 63For the first of the Berlin Philharmonic s two concerts at this year sProms, Simon Rattle put together a programme that erred very much onthe side of substance as opposed to spectacle. Although composers suchas Wagner, Ravel and Sibelius clearly have barnstormers andcrowd-pleasers in their catalogues... more PromsReview: Proms 43 and 44 include the London Sinfonietta and RoyalPhilharmonic Despite the keyed up reception accorded the RoyalPhilharmonic and Charles Dutoit following their punchy but broadperformance of Tchaikovsky s fifth symphony at the close, this Promfell rather flat on the whole. The fault lay, chiefly, in theprogramming... more BBCProms Review: Thierry Fischer conducts his final concert as theBBCNOW's Principal Conductor Berlioz s 1837 Requiem is not forthe musically faint-hearted. With its massive battery of percussion in this performance at least 16 timpani were visible to the naked eye and several pit bands worth of brass.... more OperaReview: A sensational Ravel double bill from Glyndebourne For thefinal new production of the 2012 Festival, Glyndebourne opted for arelative rarety in the operatic canon the double bill of Ravel s twoone act operas, written fifteen years apart from each other andseparated by the First World War.And what an emotional distancethere is between them, L Heure Espagnole.... more PromsReview: Proms 35 and 36 feature Scandanavian music followed by IvorNovello The tribute, which took the form of a condensed, musicallyillustrated biography, was led by a warm and commanding narrator, SimonCallow, whose humorous, well-observed and tonally pitch perfect scriptprovided the backbone to the Hallé Orchestra and Mark Elder s spiritedrenderings of many of Novello s most enduring songs... more BBCProms Review: Thrilling results from Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven Cycle Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra sBeethoven Proms marathon, in which the composer s complete symphoniesare being performed across five concerts, culminates on 27 July ... more PromsReview: Prom 34 features Semyon Bychkov with the BBCSO In themorning of 8th August 2012, on the day of this concert, the BBCSymphony Orchestra announced that Semyon Bychkov will join their rosterof conductors with a position created especially for him by theorchestra. The title Günter Wand Conducting Chair was chosen inrecognition of the affection... more OperaReview: The Bavarian State Opera's Der Rosenkavalier with ReneeFleming Unlike Wagner's late operas, which pay ever increasingdividends for the time invested, the inadequacies of Strauss's DerRosenkavalier become ever more apparent on repeatedexposure.Hofmannsthal's wordy libretto is partly to blame:everything seems to continue on long after the dramatic and musicalpoint has already been made.And when this is combined... more CDReview: The Word Unspoken from Signum The extraordinarynature of William Byrd s life and the impact that it had on his musichas been well documented on disc since the late 60s when, amongstothers, Sir David Willcocks and The Choir of King s College Cambridgerecorded motets by Byrd And His Contemporaries (EMI 1965) and CantoresIn Ecclesia directed.... more PromsReview: Prom 15 brings together Smetana and Dvorak with the BBCSOIt was back in 1940 that the Hungarian born conductor George Szellorchestrated Smetana s String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, From My Life and later, in 1944, he included the piece in his debut with theCleveland Orchestra. Within two years Szell was asked to become theorchestra s music director and he held the post until his death in1970. Szell and the CO recorded his Smetana... more OperaReview: OHP's Falstaff Verdi s Falstaff is quite a trickywork to produce well and Opera Holland Park s production proved thatbeyond a measurable doubt. It s delicate blend of music andpoignant though, certainly at times, irreverent perspective of thehuman condition ("Tutto nel mondo é burla") are a hallmark of Verdi sfinal stroke of genius.... more OperaReview: Otello at Covent Garden Most agree that operaexperienced a golden age in the latter half of the 20th century. It wasa time when one went to the opera to hear very difficult worksperformed at the highest quality: singers had no problems projectingover the largest orchestras in the world and reaching the very back ofthe house. ... more OperaReview: The Bavarian State Opera's Turandot How do yousolve a problem like Turandot?Perhaps by not tryingto.Franco Alfano and more recently Luciano Berio have eachattempted to complete the opera from the mass of sketches Puccini leftat his death.But Alfano s ending is felt by most to be toobombastic and Berio s too out of keeping with the style of therest.So, in Carlus Padrissa s spectacular new production forBavarian... more OperaReview: Lully's Armide at Glimmerglass Festival "It s goodto be the king," says a smug Mel Brooks famously while dressed as LouisXVI in the 1981 film comedy,History of the World, Part I.But for listeners brought up on a steady diet ofdacapoandbel cantoarias from 18th and 19th-centuryoperas, the seemingly endless drone ofrécitatifs andairsendemic to 17th-century... more OperaReview: Rolando Villazon in the Bavarian State Opera's Tales ofHoffmann Richard Jones often likes to take a risk or two,which means when his productions work they can be exceptional (the edgyHansel and Gretel for WNO); but when they fail they can be excruciating(the nervous-laughter inducing Macbeth for Glyndebourne).Tales ofHoffmann, though, could almost have been written with... more PromsReview: Prom 11 showcases The Royal Opera's Les troyensThere is no other opera that can legitimately match Hector Berlioz sLes Troyens for its sheer musical and dramatic ingenuity, creativeprowess, and magnificent scale. Berlioz s epic is genius: he wrote thelibretto himself to create a truly unique work; an opera that is bothloosely based on (Acts I and II and the end of V) and strictlyconforming to (Acts III, IV, and V) Virgil s... more OperaReview: Bryn Terfel in the Bavarian State Opera's Tosca Those beautiful Puccini arias that are the mainstay of operacompilation CDs are, of course, even better in the theatre.But itis the high stakes, life and death struggles, usually in the secondact, usually between a bass and a soprano, where his operas earn theirplace in the repertory.He had an unerring gift for dramatic... more PromsReview: Rare Handel from Laurence Cummings and the OAE in Prom 8Composed in 1746 and revised in 1750, surprisingly this performance wasthe Prom debut of Handel s Judas Maccabaeus. Performances of thisoratorio tend to be few and far between, yet in Handel s lifetime andthroughout the 19th century as well as into the 20th century it washighly regarded... more MusicalTheatre Review: The Music Man at Glimmerglass Festival Composer Meredith Willson was so worried his listeners might miss wordsduring the briskly paced patter ("talk-song") sections ofTheMusic Man, he rigged a string of microphones that spanned theentire front floor of the stage... more PromsReview: Contrasting performances of French music in Prom 3 and ChamberProm 1 As operas go, Debussy s fin-de-siècle masterpiece Pélléaset Mélisande is anything but action-packed. Ranking alongside Wagner sTristan (man and woman fall or already are in love; later one orboth die) and Poulenc s La Voix humaine (woman makes phone call) at... more OperaReview: Mixed results from Glyndebourne's new Figaro Every new production of Figaro at Glyndebourne and this is the ninthnew production since 1934 is a special event.Whether or not thespirit of la folle journée ... more OperaReview: Cape Town Opera's Porgy and Bess at the London Coliseum Cape Town Opera is showing Porgy and Bess in triple cast atthe London Coliseum. Their cast lists for their performances state that'Cast subject to change without prior notice'. Having not seen or heardany of Cape Town Opera's singers prior to the performance which I amreporting on... more OperaReview: Angela Gheorghiu in the Bavarian State Opera's La boheme Puccini s La bohème might be classed as verismo, but it haslittle to do with the political aims of the original naturalistmovement.Rather than confronting its well-heeled audiences withthe true horror of working class squalor, the poverty here provides anexotic ... more OperaReview: The Queen of Spades at Grange Park Opera The big opera mounted at Grange Park this year is a bold choice: ifEugene Onegin is a guaranteed box office hit, and is highly adaptableto the intimate spaces of summer opera venues like Iford and StanleyHall Opera... more OperaReview: Stanley Hall Opera offers an intriguing double bill of Mozartand Leoncavallo There may be something catching in the air, butlike a number of other venues in 2012 such as Glyndebourne and HollandPark, Stanley Hall Opera opted in its twelfth season for a doublebill... more ConcertReview: A showcase concert for London Sinfonietta's Blue Touch Paperprogramme Blue Touch gives early-career composers the chance towork on music with the ensemble, which also arranges consultations withestablished composers, who in the past have included Gerald Barry, OlgaNeuwirth, and Michael van der Aa.... more CDReview: Two Kairos releases of music by Friedrich Cerha and Unsuk Chin Lastweek Friedrich Cerha, who is now in his late eighties, was announced asthe 2012 winner of the Ernst von Siemens music prize. Worth 200,000,the prize was awarded in recognition of... more OperaReview: A new production of Britten's Billy Budd at ENOBritten s Billy Budd tells such a tragic tale that it is harrowing toexperience even if one just reads the libretto (by E. M. Forster andEric Crozier, adapted from the story by Herman Melville). There is nolight relief at all in the story, which centres around the destructionof young Billy by the sadistic Claggart but also portrays cruelty as... more Interview:We chat to the cast of Nixon in China at the SF Opera Thesummer season at the San Francisco Opera started a couple of weeks ago,and audience and critics agree that Nixon in China, the famousfirst opera by John Adams, represents one of the highlights of theoperatic summer. The SF Opera presented a sober and subtle productionfrom the Vancouver Opera... more OperaReview: Luisotti and Furlanetto make Verdi's Attila shineThis production of Attila at the San Francisco Operarepresented one of the most precious operatic experiences for thisparticular member of the audience. The singers displayed an exceptionallevel of harmony with one another and with the orchestra. Moreover,maestro Nicola Luisotti's passionate reading of the score revealed onesurprise after another... more CDreview: The Schubert Ensemble performs Brahms and Schubert TheSchubert Ensemble are highly regarded for their sensitive, musicalperformances of the piano plus strings repertoire especially theSchubert and Brahms masterpieces.It is a real shame, then, thaton these two discs they have been let down by poor recording.... more OperaReview: A Knussen double bill provides the perfect start to theAldeburgh Festival The Artist in Residence at this year s AldeburghFestival, the 65th, is a composer/conductor who has long associationswith Aldeburgh and indeed shaped its artistic programme for a decade Oliver Knussen.Knussen is 60 this... more Operareview: Cosi fan tutte at Opera Holland Park All sixprincipal singers were excellent. They sounded ideal in their roleseven though Dorabella s soprano part was taken by mezzo-soprano JuliaRiley (whose looks and singing style reminded me, rightly or wrongly,of a young Felicity Lott). Tenor Andrew Staples... more ConcertReview: Florian Boesch at the Aldeburgh Festival The Austrianbass-baritone Florian Boesch has been making quite a name for himselfin recent years, and when it was announced that he would step in atvery short notice at the Aldeburgh Festival for an indisposed MatthiasGoerne there were muffled whoops of... more CDReview: Paul McCreesh presents an impressive album of A Song ofFarewell A Song of Farewell: Music of Mourning and Consolationis, in many ways, an aural discussion of death. While this descriptionmay sound depressing or daunting, the album presents, as the subtitlesuggests, a comfort that poignantly complements the sadness. Thoughfamed in the world of ... more OperaReview: Nixon in China successfully debuts at the San FranciscoOpera On Friday 8 June, the San Francisco Opera presented thelong-awaited Bay Area debut of Nixon in China, the firstopera by one of the most acclaimed contemporary composers, JohnAdams. After twenty-five years since its premiere, this workby Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman remains equally controversialand popular. At the end of the performance... more Operainterview: British soprano Claire Rutter on Madama Butterfly atGrange Park Any regular operagoer in the UK over the last fiveyears will have noticed the further ascent of that rare commodity - anEnglish star soprano able to hold her own in almost any major role andin any major international company.Claire Rutter, now in theprime of her singing life (she is in her early forties) has garnered... more Review:Garsington takes on Vivaldi's Olympian L'OlimpiadeL Olimpiade, Metastasio s libretto of 1733 written 1340 years afterthe last of the ancient Olympic games provides the text for apastoral opera with the background of the Olympic games. It is a playset in green outdoors with aristocratic characters, one of whom isdisguised as a shepherdess. What better setting for such an opera thanthe new Wormsley... more CDReview: Naive releases L'Olimpiade by a range of composers As the 2012 Olympics approach, London is bedecked with nationalistsymbolism not only for the games but for the Queen s Diamond Jubileewhich would appear to have provoked us, as a nation, to rejoice in anostalgic revisiting of 1950s taste. Whereas coronation favourites suchas teacakes and sponge... more CDReview: The Florestan Trio records Beethoven's Piano Trios on HyperionJust a few months ago, after sixteen successful years together theFlorestan Trio gave their last concerts in London. Now Anthony Marwood(violin), Richard Lester (cello) and Susan Tomes (piano) are each offexploring fresh musical pastures.So this four-disc boxed set ofthe Beethoven Trios, each released individually... more CDReview: Vivaldi's Teuzzone features in a dazzling recordingfrom Naive Teuzzone is the twelfth opera in naïve s VivaldiEdition s series and, incidentally, the first new release by JordiSavall (Farnace was first previously on Alia Vox). The opera belongs toa period of Venetian obsession with exoticism and chinoiseriesinfluenced by the city s trading links... more Review:David McVicar's production of Salome returns to Covent GardenIt may not matter a great deal in the large scheme of things, but I ampuzzled by an arguably small change between Richard Strauss' score ofSalome and stage director David McVicar's realisation. In the score theexecutioner is not listed among the roles although he is referred to inthe German stage directions... more OperaReview: Glanert's Caligula comes to ENO Detlev Glanert sopera on Albert Camus 1944 play Caligula, with a libretto byHans-Ulrich Treichel,premiered to great acclaim in Frankfurt in 2006.Caligula s first UK production opened at the Coliseum last night in anew staging by much-admired theatre director Benedict Andrews... more Editorial:San Diego Opera presents a benefit concert featuring Renée Fleming andannounces 2012-13 season The global economic climate has beenchilly for enough years now that the persistent financial struggle forarts organizations is no longer big news. Regional opera companies andsymphony orchestras have folded all across the United States, with evenlong-established... more OperaReview: American Symphony Orchestra and Collegiate Chorale perform arare Notre Dame by Schmidt Founded in 1962, the AmericanSymphony Orchestra ranks as one of the most important contributors tothe classical music scene in New York. Under the leadership of LeonBotstein, the ASO offers thematic series of concerts thathighlight the connections between... more Editorial:Opera Holland Park's new season offers rarities and favouritesOpera Holland Park continues to surprise its diverse audience witheclectic offerings; indeed, the company s egalitarian spirit and focuson both popular and obscure (mostly Italian and especially versimo)operas has certainly brought the genre to a larger, younger audiencewhilst still catering for aficionados. To successfully... more OperaReview: Nelly Miricioiu celebrates her 60th birthday with Donizetti's MariaPadilla Such was the display of vocal dexterity from NellyMiricioiu as Maria and Marianne Cornetti as Ines in the Chelsea OperaGroup s performance of Maria Padilla that by the end, it almost feltlike the Olympics had come early. This extraordinary but almost unknownopera from Donizetti s maturity... more Editorial: My Fair Lady and Les troyens amongst the richpickings of the Olympic Proms season While the country'ssportspeople prepare to gather for the London Olympics, there's also asense of the "Best of British" about the BBC Proms season, announcedtoday. Gilbert and Sullivan, Ivor Novello... more OperaReview: A new Falstaff for Covent Garden Verdi s finalopera is a consummate blend of comedy, shades of melodrama, andself-parody. It takes a truly disciplined production to manifest someof these associations, and Robert Carson s crowd pleaser at the RoyalOpera takes great strides toward this difficult goal. It helped,though, that the singers... more ConcertReview: Jordi Savall at the Lufthansa Festival With his ensemble LeConcert des Nations named after Couperin s unification of Europeanstyles in his innovative collection Les nations the grand old man ofbaroque Jordi Savall emphasizes a variety of baroque styles within thecommunality of high quality music making... more ConcertReview: John Butt presents another riveting evening at the LufthansaFestival of Baroque Music Some 24 hours after the British summerofficially began the sunshine was streaming into St John s Smith Squarefor an all-Bach program from much-loved Scottish baroque specialists,The Dunedin Consort and their charismatic director, John Butt. Thisyear s festival is titled... more Editorial:We talk to Wasfi Kani as she prepares to open Grange Park Opera's 15thseason With three weeks to go, rehearsals in full swing and aplethora of tasks to complete and conundrums great and small to resolvebefore the curtain goes up for opening night of the 15th Grange ParkOpera festival... more ConcertReview: Stephane Deneve says farewell to the RSNO So Scotland bidsadieu to Stéphane Denève. After seven years of lighting up Scottishconcert life, he bowed out in a blaze of glory, fêted by politicians,diplomats, business leaders, fellow artists, and the loyal audiencethat he has built during his... more Operareview: Madam Butterfly at ENO There are certain operas inthe canon that mysteriously need nothing else except their music tosuccessfully compel audiences. As one of the most consistentlyperformed since its (fifth) revision, Puccini s Madama Butterflycertainly ranks within this selection however ironically since operasare by nature more than "just music."... more ConcertReview: Stephane Deneve with the RSNO Long after memories of thisconcert melt into the general filing system, people will remember theencore that the Canadian virtuoso James Ehnes performed tonight:Paganini's famous caprice no. 24. It is hard to think of another workthat says look upon my encore, o ye mortals... more Concertreview: The Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Jakub Hrusa Most of thebuzz about Gramophone Magazine's 'ten conductors on the verge ofgreatness', published this time last year, seems to have been generatedby Gramophone Magazine. Maybe that's because, being behind a paywall,their content doesn't get linked to and links are what make internet... more ConcertReview: Beethoven with the SCO Although he met with little successin the opera house, there is quite a substantial body of work for thetheatre in Beethoven s catalogue. Most of the time, all we hear in theconcert-hall are the overtures, but the SCO s choral season finalepresented a welcome opportunity to ... more Operareview: La boheme at the Royal Opera House, Covent GardenProductions of Puccini s works these days inevitably raise questionsabout operatic realism or, as it s more commonly known, verismo. Atfirst glance, operatic realism doesn t appear to be a very complicatedissue. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, composers andlibrettists (of the giovane scoula)... more OperaReview: Wagner's Flying Dutchman at ENO Oscar Wildefamously said of The Old Curiosity Shop: 'One would have to have aheart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without dissolving intotears ... of laughter'. The same might be said of The Flying Dutchmanwhere, in one of the... more Editorial:Walt Disney becomes the subject of new opera for ENO EnglishNational Opera announced its 2012-2013 season this morning and, as onemight expect, it is typical of the company: bold, innovative, and"risky." John Berry, the artistic director, additionally emphasized thefamily values (if you will) of the company, highlighting the manyartists that will be returning to give a little back to the institutionresponsible for nurturing their careers... more Operareview: The London Premiere of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson'sEinstein on the Beach at the Barbican As operas go, Einstein onthe Beach is a rich and strange one. No real characters, no plot,no narrative, no climaxes, no arias, no dialogue, no comedy, no tragedy and... more Operareview: Willy Decker's Traviata at the Met starring DessayWilly Deckerwasn't the first man to try and gain a betterperspective of the courtesan Violetta by examining what lay beneath theiconic red dress. But I have to wonder whether the Germandirector's psychological undressing of the heroine in the present Metproduction has uncovered anything more revealing than hispredecessors... more OperaReview: A rare performance of Mozart's Il sogno di Scipioneby Gotham Chamber Opera Il sogno di Scipione(TheDream of Scipio) was the fifth of Mozart's operas, composed(unbelievably) when he was 16. The libretto was written by PietroMetastasio, after Cicero. It was presumably first performed... more Operareview: The European Premiere of Gerald Barry's The Importance of BeingEarnest at the Barbican There may be some who, on hearing that thenew opera by Gerald Barry is an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's landmarkcomic play, would give it a wide berth. Barry's music can benotoriously spiky and unpredictable; Wilde's text on the other handis... more OperaReview: The Collegiate Chorale perform The Mikado TheMikadois possibly one of the most frequently-playedoperettas world-wide. This season there was a new production at theGärtnerplatz in Munich, among other venues. The reasons for itsenduring popularity are not difficult to fathom... more OperaReview: Sir Colin Davis conducts Weber's Der Freischutz withthe LSO Carl Maria von Weber s Der Freischütz was sensational atits première in 1821 and quickly became an international phenomenonrivaled only by the operas of Rossini. Although Freischütz was inseveral respects anticipated by Louis Spohr s Faust and E.T.A.Hoffman s Undine... more OperaReview: La Fille du Regiment returns to Covent Garden with anew cast Laurent Pelly's 2007 production of La Fille Du Régiment,now at its second revival at the Royal Opera House, is delightfulentertainment... more OperaReview: A gay reworking of Don Giovanni at London's Heavennightclub Opera houses and nightclubs have more in common than onemight think. In nineteenth-century Italy, it was common for Austrianauthorities to take an interest in the programming of many houses,simply because a large part of the educated population congregatedthere and could be easily observed. Of course, these days systems ofpower are further decentralized and... more Editorial: My Fair Lady and Les troyens amongst the richpickings of the Olympic Proms season While the country'ssportspeople prepare to gather for the London Olympics, there's also asense of the "Best of British" about the BBC Proms season, announcedtoday. Gilbert and Sullivan, Ivor Novello... more ConcertsReview: Daniel Barenboim returns to the Festival Hall for his Brucknercycle After Beethoven, and Beethoven and Schoenberg, DanielBarenboim's latest project at the South Bank Centre features another'B', albeit one whose centrality in the repertory is still not quitesecure: Bruckner. In three concerts, he and his Staatskapealle Berlinare presenting his final three symphonies, and in this first one... more ConcertReview: Vadim Gluzman performs a rarity with the BBCSO Full marksto the BBC SO for programming Balys Dvarionas's Violin Concerto andthus facilitating its timely UK premiere. Statistics are not on handbut it is likely that, although composed in 1948, this unjustlyneglected work still awaits its premiere... more MusicalReview: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream at the New YorkCity Center Pipe Dream, which opened at the ShubertTheatre in the winter of 1955, is the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicalthat preceded the TV spectacular,Cinderella, andBroadway'sFlower Drum Song(1957). Based on theJohn Steinbeck storySweet Thursday, the material, withits drifters... more ConcertReview: Varga and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Bronfman performMendelssohn, Bartok and Stravinsky Georg Solti, a Hungarian wholived a good part of his life in London, once televised a demonstrationthat was quite revelatory. He sat at the piano and played theorchestral beginning of Duke Bluebeard's Castle, whichsounded as we have become accustomed to hearing it... more OperaReview: A rare outing for Jakob Lenz at ENO During ENO snew production of Wolfgang Rihm s chamber opera Jakob Lenz (1977-8),Andrew Shore, putting in an impressive turn in the title role, ends upgetting dunked in an onstage pool of water no fewer than four times.New director on the block, Sam Brown, though, has good artistic reasonsfor this treatment of his more experienced leading man.The sourcefor... more Editorial:Musical diversity in Budapest Established in 1853, the BudapestPhilharmonic Orchestra is Hungary's oldest functioning orchestra. Drawnfrom musicians of the Hungarian State Opera, for many years it wasHungary's only professional orchestra. They worked with suchdistinguished composer-conductors... more OperaReview: Soile Isokoski and Alice Coote in Der Rosenkavalier inGeneva Some forty years after its creation for the Bavarian StateOpera, Otto Schenk's production of Der Rosenkavalier has found its wayto Geneva Opera, where it will play in repertoire until 12April.If there is relatively little new to say about a vintageproduction... more ConcertReview: Olga Borodina joins Valery Gergiev for the Verdi RequiemVerdi's Messa da Requiem is undoubtedly a religious work, significantlydifferent from his operas, notably in terms of structure, texture, andstyle. Written to commemorate the death of the Italian patriotAlessandro... more OperaInterview: Gerald Barry talks about his latest opera, The Importance ofBeing Earnest On a sunny Friday morning in London I meet GeraldBarry to discuss his latest opera, The Importance of BeingEarnest. Earnest has its UK premiere at the Barbican on 26April, performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Groupconducted by Tom Adès... more Editorial:What does the pre-Britten centenary Aldeburgh Festival have on offer?Little acorns and mighty oaks as the countdown to the 65th AldeburghFestival progresses, in the relative calm of 2012 before the storm ofBenjamin Britten's music that will resonate all around the world in2013, the centenary of Britten's birth... more OperaReview: Rigoletto with John Eliot Gardiner in the pit at CoventGarden Since its première in 1851, Verdi s Rigoletto has remainedan audience favorite for its catchy tunes and poignant treatment of acaptivating story, one that resonates strongly even today. Often hailedas a revolutionary step "forward" in Verdi s oeuvre, Rigoletto weavesseveral... more InterviewFeature: We chat to General Director of Glyndebourne, David Pickard, asthe 2012 season gets underway We caught up with David Pickard,General Director at Glyndebourne, to ask for his take on theforthcoming season. He sees it as a season of old favourites... more ConcertReview: Joseph Swenson returns to the Scottish Chamber OrchestraMaking one of his welcome visits as conductor emeritus, the SCO sformer principal conductor Joseph Swensen brought hischaracteristically ebullient and passionate personality to thisthoughtfully assembled programme with its dancing thread... more OperaReview: Rameau's Acante et Céphise Operatic specialoccasion pieces usually die with their final curtain call, though themost notable exception is probably Rossini s Il viaggo a Reims, whichstubbornly persists to this day. Interestingly, University CollegeOpera (which has a long history of performing rare or new works)mounted a production... more ConcertReview: Murray Perahia plays Bach, Schubert and Chopin at Avery FisherHall The 250 years since the death of Johann Sebastian Bach havebeen the most revolutionary in human history, so it is not thatsurprising to realize that the music that he composed is a considerabledistance from that which we hear today. Even the best efforts... more OperaNews: Covent Garden announces details of the 2012-13 season TheRoyal Opera announced its revival focused 2012/2013 season thismorning, with six new productions, a star-studded roster, and somepromising revelations. The ebullient Director of Opera Kasper Holten(with Associate Director John Fulljames) have planned quite... more OperaReview: Judith Weir's disappointing new Miss FortuneWhenever I see a new opera, I play a game. I simply ignore entirely theprogramme notes and synopsis. Often, this little bit of fun allows meto recapture the excitement of audience members past. To witness a newwork in all its glory, experience the plot twists and turns, the text,and the music in the... more Advertisement:Musical Criticism announces vacancies for contributing writers andopera editor The vacancies are open to applicants based in anygeographical location where there are regular professional concerts toreview. No particular geographical location has priority: whetheryou're based in Glasgow or Cardiff, San Diego or Shanghai...more OperaReview: The Guildhall's Midsummer Night's Dream The lastouting of Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream on the London opera stageseemed to be more concerned with the composer's sexuality than with hiswitty masterpiece based on Shakespeare's play (May 2011, EnglishNational Opera). Once bitten twice shy, thus one could be forgiven forbeing slightly worried about other... more OperaReview: English National Opera's Death of Klinghoffer JohnAdams' and Alice Goodman's 1991 opera The Death of Klinghoffer has beentrailed by controversy throughout its twenty-one year history.Scheduled performances at Glyndebourne and the Los Angeles Opera werecancelled after the stormy reception the opera received following its1991 New York... more OperaReview: Ernani live from the Met Undoubtedly for some,seeing opera live in cinemas is quite enjoyable. As I reclined in mylarge seat and munched on some popcorn at my nearest local cinema(Curzon Chelsea), I wondered if displaced opera was the way of thefuture. After all, there are serious advantages to watching opera in acinema... more Editorial:The Maestro myth? The Royal Opera recently announced thatit would be furthering its collaboration with the BBC by playing hostto the television reality/contest show 'Maestro.' In contrast to thefirst season of the show, there will be only... more ConcertReview: Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic perform Mahler atCarnegie Hall In his three year tenure at Carnegie Hall, Mahleronly selected from his own work his first two symphonies, even thoughhe had seven (and later eight) from which to choose. He had been stungbefore by bad critical receptions and exhibited in New York a ratheruncharacteristic timidity in choice... more Interview:Vivica Genaux chats about her American tour and her new music ensembleMezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux maintains a schedule of performances thatreflects a great deal of intellectual curiosity. Given her status asone of the most sought-after Baroque specialists, she has not chosen toremain content with a handful of roles, like many other singers tend todo once... more OperaReview: Rusalka comes to Covent Garden for the first timeRusalka has finally made it to Covent Garden, but, in Jossi Wieler andSergio Morabito's wilfully shabby production, it has arrived ininexpressive and unlovely form. The boos and countering cheers thatgreeted the directorial team at the curtain even though this wasbranded a new production, it was first seen in Salzburg in 2008... more ConcertReview: Mark Elder conducts Berlioz's Romeo and JulietHector Berlioz was not generally a reticent composer, least of all whenit came to pronouncing on the value of his own music and the attentionit deserved. Writing about his 1839 symphonie dramatique Roméo etJuliette he insisted: The work is enormously difficult to perform... more OperaReview: Raymond Gubbay's Aida at the Royal Albert HallVerdi's Aida is extremely intertextual. Conditioned by the historicalevents surrounding its première and, as an inevitable product ofnineteenth-century Orientalism, scholars have fruitfully mined it fordecades for both its historical and critical significance. The newproduction at the Royal Albert Hall... more OperaReview: A stellar cast introduces Richard Jones' new production of Talesof Hoffmann to ENO Co-produced with the Bavarian State Operaand recently performed by that company, English National Opera nowstages Richard Jones's take on Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. Withoutdoubt, the staging is entertaining and also thought provoking. However,perhaps some of Jones's messages... more OperaReview: Silent Opera performs La boheme in the Old Vic TunnelsSilent Opera present La Bohème in the series of linked rooms that formthe complex of tunnels under the approach to Waterloo Station. Trainsrumble and clatter overhead, the venue shakes and echoes but - or soruns the concept, as set out in the programme blurb - you "walk aroundwith a... more ConcertReview: Vivica Genaux performs Vivaldi with Europa Galante Livingin a city as rich in musical diversity as New York, it's easy to becomeslightly blasé about the wealth of opportunities for hearing classicalmusic in live performance. Therefore, it was an uncommon thrill to bepresent when Fabio Biondi and his superb ensemble Europa Galante tookthe stage and... more

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