Dear Alma, I flew to Europe for a concertmaster audition at a major international orchestra. Half a dozen of us waited our turn. To my astonishment, two were called forward and left. We were told […]
Puccini, La bohème: Soloists, Chorus of St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School; Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera / Clelia Cafiero (conductor). London Coliseum, 3.10.2024 Production: Original director – Sir Jonathan Miller Revival director – Crispin Lord Designer […]
I loved the Quatuor Hanson‘s two previous recordings for Aparte Records. So when I saw them doing Schumann on Harmonia Mundi, I wondered, why Schumann? Of all the string quartet repertoire which they haven’t even begun […]
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra has been ordered to pay €168,431.96 to its former artistic director and principal conductor Brian Schembri. Schembri was fired seven years ago after a disagreement with the orchestra management. He had […]
From my monthly essay in The Critic: Stars have been falling out of opera like apples in late summer. Jonas Kaufmann, a serial drop-out, now has a second career as a festival manager. Anna Netrebko […]
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: There’s more content in this compilation than a weary reviewer has a right to expect. Coming off the back of a pointless set of Shostakovich symphonies, this chunky […]
Message from Teatro San Carlo, in Napoli: Jonas Kaufmann / Ludovic Tézier Concert Postponed. The kind public is advised that, due to the artist Jonas Kaufmann’s unavailability due to Covid-19, the Jonas Kauffmann / Ludovic […]
The International Vocal Competition (IVC) is a classical singing competition that has attracted singers from all over the world to ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands since 1954. Once a small singing competition aimed at singers from the […]
Jake Heggie (Photo: James Niebuhr) Jake Heggie‘s song cycle for soprano, violin and string quartet, Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope is receiving its UK premiere at violinist Madeleine Mitchell‘s The Red Violin Festival […]
It’s tempting to call this Jonas Kaufmann’s love affairs: he is very much the main protagonist here (along of course its Puccini himself). This follows on from his first Puccini album in 2015 – Nessun […]
