Aida, an opera that requires at least five fine Verdi voices, has fallen on hard times. Still, the cast announced for last Saturday’s performance at the Bayerische Staatsoper, headed by…
A sensational Nadine Sierra in Lucia di Lammermoor at the ROH
The periodic frustration one might feel with Katie Mitchell’s split stage concept for Donizetti’s romantic tragedy is a small price to pay for some stupendous singing. First unveiled in 2016,…
Handel’s Arianna: An unforgettable close to the London Handel Festival’s ‘Spring Awakenings’ festival
This is not the London Handel Festival’s first stab at Handel’s unjustly neglected opera, Arianna in Creta; it was previously staged at the Royal College of Music in March 2014.…
Verdi, La traviata in Venice
The opening reception of the Biennale had ended early, Teatro La Fenice was dark, and I found myself with an unexpectedly free evening in Venice. Musica a Palazzo is one…
Florencia en el Amazonas in San Jose
Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas is having a moment. And just now at Silicon Valley’s Opera San Jose it was a quite wonderful moment — well cast, smart production…
“Birds and Balls” in San Francisco
Two recent one-acts cleverly combined by stage director Brian Staufenbiel into one grand, operatic sporting event. San Francisco’s alternative opera company, Opera Parallele pulled off a slam dunk show. It…
Some outstanding singing at the Royal Opera’s new Carmen
For any new staging of a work as familiar as Carmen there is an imperative to root out fresh perspectives, to pursue a previously unexplored angle; effectively to reinvent the…
Bach’s Easter Music from the Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
If Holy week is usually a time for Christian meditation, this concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall given by the Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment traded solemn…
A Mesmerising Death in Venice from Welsh National Opera
Like the protagonist in Thomas Mann’s eponymous novella, Benjamin Britten’s failing health made him keenly aware of his own mortality as he embarked upon one of the most challenging projects…
London Handel Festival International Singing Competition Final
With an internationally renowned jury, the London Handel Festival International Singing Competition carries a fair amount of clout. Jurors were: David Gowland (chairman, Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Scheme…