“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating”. This much-quoted line from Dietrich von Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) – a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident – could encapsulate the essence…
A Russian Rarity Fails to Truly Cohere: Staatsoper Hamburg’s New Ruslan and Lyudmila
There are a number of instances where the overture is much better known than the entire opera. One of those is Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila. Little other music by this…
Katie Mitchell’s Farewell to Opera with an Utterly Absorbing and Stimulating The Makropulos Case for The Royal Opera House
Who would want to live for 300 years? That is the question posed by Janáček’s all too rarely seen but fascinating opera The Makropulos Case: initially an open one perhaps,…
All Aboard for Glyndebourne’s The Railway Children
Dramatic intrigue and heart-warming nostalgia are perfectly matched in E. Nesbit‘s The Railway Children – the author’s enduring tale that first appeared in serialised form in 1905. Over five decades…
Cherubini’s Medea at Lyric Opera of Chicago
The Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its 2025-2026 season recently with a dramatically powerful production of Luigi Cherubini’s Medea. The opera is a co-production of Lyric Opera of Chicago, the…
The Guildhall School’s Double Billing of Smyth and Respighi
Fairy tales have always been a deep source of inspiration for the creative arts. In the German context they tie in with an age-old fascination for and involvement with the…
Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène with the LPO and Karina Canellakis
Lili Boulanger was one of the most fascinating – and tragic – of female twentieth-century composers. The first woman to win the Prix de Rome in 1912, for the work…
Historic Philadelphia Recital Comes To Rural Virginia with Loudoun Lyric Opera
One hundred years after its original performance in 1915, Dorothy Leona Jewell’s recital in Philadelphia received a reenactment this past weekend at Faith Chapel Gathering Place in Lucketts, VA. Jewell’s…
Delius’s Problematic Conception in The Magic Fountain Not Overcome in Wexford’s Production
The inspiration for Delius’s The Magic Fountain (1895) stems from his time in Florida, when he ran an orange plantation for his father. It was the first in a trilogy…
Annapolis Opera’s Don Giovanni: Vocal Performances Worthy Of A Sold-Out House
Who can resist a well-done classic? No one, apparently, as Maryland Hall was sold out for the second performance of Annapolis Opera’s Don Giovanni this past weekend. From the moment…