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 […]
Classical Explorer
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 – […]
Handel in Shoreditch: a Tamerlano triumph
Those who attended Irish National Opera’s Bajazet at the Linbury Theatre in 2021 (review here) will be familiar with the story here. Handel accorded titular status to Tamerlano, Different librettos, though: Handel’s principally uses Nicolà […]
News Post: Pianist Burkard Schliessmann’s new label
[Mechelen, 4 March 2026]— Evil Penguin Classic proudly announces that internationally acclaimed pianist Burkard Schliessmann is joining the label’s distinguished roster of artists. Our collaboration will start off with a Fryderyk Chopin album presenting a […]
A Tale of Seven Climates: Tansy Davies’ The Passion of Mary Magdalene
Tansy Davies The Passion of Mary Magdalene (2025) Anna Dennis Mary Magdalene; Markus Farnsworth Jesus; Dunedin Consort, John But (director) Barbican Hall, London, 24 March, 2026 Tansy Davies’ works rarely fail to simulate: her opera […]
After Kosky’s Siegfried – Kosky’s Don Giovanni from Vienna
After Kosky’s Siegfried at Covent Garden last week (you can read my review here), I thought it a good idea to have a look at his Don Giovanni from Vienna. Here’s the promo reel: As […]
Pianist Burkhard Schliessmann joins Evil Penguin
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Nagano’s eye-opening Mahler
Hildegard of Bingen O vis aeternitatis Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor, ‘Resurrection’ (1888-94) Kent Nagano (conductor); Jane Archibald (soprano); Christina Bock (mezzo); Phiharmonia Chorus & Orchestra Royal Festival Hall, London , 19 March […]
Divine Impressario: Nicolini on stage
Celebrating castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (1673-1732), known (then) universally as “Nicolini,” his disc presents no fewer than nine World Premiere recordings. Although Handel wrote for Nicolini (and we hear arias fom Rinaldo and Amaldigi here), so […]
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