Martha Argerich and Dong Hyek Lim at the Royal Festival Hall
Big names can mean big surprises: will they show? Will they play what they say they’ll play? I remember when Claudio Arrau played at the Royal Festival Hall back in the 1980s – the big […]
tritonous
Decadent & modernist: I chat to director Max Hoehn & designer Darko Petrovic about working on the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon’s first staging of Wagner’s Tannhäuser for 30 years
Wagner: Tannhäuser – designs by Darko Petrovic, courtesy of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon Later this month, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon will be presenting a new production of Wagner’s […]
Drama & presence: Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Barbican with Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen, Nick Pritchard & Alex Rosen
Bach: St Matthew Passion – Alex Rosen (Jesus), Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith) Bach: St Matthew Passion; Nick Pritchard, Alex Rosen, Carolyn Sampson, Hugh Cutting, Hugo Hymas, […]
Andrew Downes’ “A St Luke Passion” (and other choral works)
On 27th March 2026, the record label Prima Facie released the premiere recording of Andrew Downes’ A St Luke Passion of 1993 (Op. 50) with the Philharmonia Voices and Orchestra under David Trippett. This is the first album in a trilogy of recordings of the large-scale […]
An “authentic” Rigoletto in Paris: Le Cercle d’Harmonie triumphs
Rigoletto Music: Giuseppe Verdi Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave Cast: Rigoletto – Leonardo Lee; Gilda – Mei Gui Zhang; Duke of Mantua – Andrei Danilov; Sparafucile – Alexander Tsymbalyuk; Maddalena – Victoria Karkacheva; Count Monterone – […]
A sonic extravaganza: Alex Paxton’s Candyfolk Spacedrum demonstrates his gift for carefully crafted music that has the energy & engagement of a communal jam session.
Alex Paxton: Candyfolk Spacedrum: Alex Paxton, Jennifer Walshe, Riot Ensemble, Dreammusics Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Belham Primary School, David Ingamells, Jennifer Walshe; Jonah RecordsReviewed 25 March 2026 A sonic extravaganza where Paxton demonstrates not only his […]
Act Four: Young Artists from the National Opera Studio on terrific form in scenes directed by Ruth Knight
Donizetti: La fille du regiment – Young Artists of the National Opera Studio Act Four: Rossini, Lortzing, Stravinsky, Britten, Berlioz, Cilea, Donizetti; Young Artists of the National Opera Studio, director: Ruth Knight, conductor: Andrew Griffiths; […]
Shakespeare in Music? “Give me excess of it”. There is no sickening and the appetite never dies.
Devon Glover “If music be the food of love” then take me to the Shakespeare in Music Festival (SIM) in Stratford-upon-Avon from 20 to 23 April. The SIM Festival is rapidly becoming the “go to” […]
Grimeborn Festival 2026: where daring stories, urgent questions and bold reinventions unfold across intimate stages
Mozart: Don Giovanni – Ensemble OrQuesta at 2025 Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre (Photo: Julian Guidera) The Grimeborn Festival is back at the Arcola Theatre this summer from 15 July to 5 September with its usual […]
.jpg?w=510&resize=510,510&ssl=1 "Warm hearted & with a twinkle in his eye: The Brook Street Band bring out the sense of enjoyment in the violin sonatas of Ipswich-based Joseph Gibbs")
Warm hearted & with a twinkle in his eye: The Brook Street Band bring out the sense of enjoyment in the violin sonatas of Ipswich-based Joseph Gibbs
Joseph Gibbs: 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1; The Brook Street Band; First Hand Records Warm and characterful music that deserves to be better known. Provincial in fact but not in reputation, the […]
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