André Campra was an important figure in the development of French opera between the death of Lully (1687) and Rameau’s first example, Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) not least by pioneering the form of the opéra-ballet in L’Europe galante. Such works […]
Like almost all of his musical contemporaries, Salieri has remained so much in the shadow of Mozart, that it’s easy to forget how precocious he also was in composition. La locandiera (1773) is his ninth […]
To close its season this year, If Opera presented this intimate, but still dramatic, pairing of two 17th century vocal works, sacred and secular side by side. Carissimi’s Historia Jonae is one of a series […]
Nina Brazier’s production of Rigoletto for If Opera (in its delightful new home at Church Farm, Wingfield) presents it as a lively historical spectacle, set at the court of Henry VIII (neatly translating the scene […]
La cambiale di matrimonio (1810) is the work with which the 18-year-old Rossini burst upon the operatic stage (San Moisè, Venice in this case). Although it wasn’t the first opera he composed (Demetrio e Polibio […]
Staging a long, serious opera such as Zelmira (1822) based on myth and ancient history presents quite a challenge on its own terms, to keep an audience engaged with its plot twists and extensive arias. […]
Unveiled during weather inclement enough to recall Ostrovsky’s storm over the Volga, Damiano Michieletto’s COVID-era production garnered mixed reviews on its initial outing. This first revival will fare similarly. I gather there have been some […]
Longborough’s closing offering this season pairs its emerging artists with the Norwegian ensemble Barokksolistene in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1689). Erlend Samnøen’s production expands the work to recreate something of the immersive and colourful spectacle […]
On the second night of its two-performance visit to City Center Will Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo presented Vincenzo Bellini’s melodramatic La Sonnambula. Set in an early-19th-century Swiss Alpine village, the story is frequently criticized for its […]
For the first performance in their two-day visit to City Center, Teatro Nuovo, a company and training institution specializing in bel canto opera established by Will Crutchfield in 2018, mounted an electrifying rendition of Verdi’s […]
.png?w=160&resize=160,160&ssl=1 "A destroyed and partially rebuilt city - Sven Helbig’s 'Requiem A' receives its UK Premiere at Central Hall Westminster")
