Ensemble 360. Crucible Playhouse, 22.05.2024 Ravel Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, MA 74 (1972) Saint-Saëns Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166 (1921) Adès Alchymia (2021) Messager Solo de Concours (1899) Franck Piano Quintet in F minor, […]
Alice d’Lumiere’s Trans Lady Sings Gender can seem remarkably fluid, at times, in opera despite the apparent restrictions of vocal physiology. To a long tradition of female mezzo-sopranos in trousers and tenors in frocks, we […]
Esther, mosaic from The Dormition Church on Mount Zion in Jerusalem Handel: Esther (Canons version); Solomon’s Knot; Wigmore HallReviewed: 27 May 2024 Solomon’s Knot on vibrant and vivid form in a dramatic account of the earliest […]
ROH Youth Opera in Jonathan Ainscough & Jonathan Briggin’s The Sapling in July 2023 When I chatted to conductor Nicholas Chalmers in 2019 [see my interview], one of the topics that popped up was his […]
Vivaldi: L’Olimpiade – Sarah Richmond, Alexandra Urquiola, Gemma Ni Bhriain, Chuma Sijeqa, Meili Li, Rachel Redmond, Sean Boylan – Irish National Opera (Photo: Ros Kavanagh) Vivaldi: L’Olimpiade: Gemma Ni Bhriain, Alexandra Urquiola, Meili Li, Sarah […]
Music In The Round: Saint-Saëns; The Renaissance Man Ensemble 360 / George Morton (conductor, L’assassinat du duc de Guise). Crucible Playhouse, 21.05.2024 Morceau de concert in F minor, Op. 94 / R 203 (1887) Bassoon […]
Stuart Hancock: Pandora’s Box – London Youth Opera at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, 2023 (Photo: Nina Swann) Last December, London Youth Opera (LYO) presented Stuart Hancock and Donald Sturrock’s Pandora’s Box at the […]
Best known these days (if at all) for his operetta Merrie England, Edward German (1862-1936) was once highly respected. Sir Arthur Sullivan once famously said of German that he was “the one man to follow […]
The Miro Quartet has been around since 1995, and astonishingly, 3 out of the 4 original members are still part of the group today. (The current 2nd violinist joined them in 2011). They haven’t made many […]
Focused and confident from the start, Evgeny Kissin took a quick, perfunctory bow, and launched into an intriguing interpretation of Beethoven’s E-minor Sonata. After sounding the opening chords of the capricious and elusive first movement […]
