It’s been a while: well, over 40 years, since I heard Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe, in an amdram production just outside of Manchester in which I was playing French horn. Has absence made the […]
Baba Yaga workshop -Ana Dordevic, Rowan Hellier, Carola Schwab – (Photo: Pascal Buenning/Deutsche Oper) Rowan Hellier is a mezzo-soprano who, along with her operatic career, is known for creating projects which blur the boundaries of […]
Lehár: The Merry Widow – Alex Otterburn, Henry Waddington – Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic) Lehár: The Merry Widow; Paula Sides, Alex Otterburn, Rhian Lois, William Morgan, Henry Waddington, director: John Savournin, Scottish Opera, conductor: […]
Opera Rara’s Donizetti Song Project is the latest in their alchemical mix of musicology and performance. But why say with Volume Four first? Because recently we heard Bellini’s La straniella (see this post), and Donizetti […]
I feel sorry for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. They got themselves a new hot-stuff conductor in 2020, and now a recording arrangement with Pentatone (although that’s not as prestigious as it once was), and this […]
Sisters: music by Rossini, Viardot, Gluck/Berlioz, Berlioz, Bertin, Bellini, Grandval, Saint-Saens; Karine Deshayes, Delphine Haidan, Orchestre national Avignon-Provence, conductor Débora Waldman; NoMadMusicReviewed 13 June 2025 Part celebration, part luxuriant delight: Malibran and Viardot celebrated in […]
The Continuo Foundation is joining forces with Oxford Festival of the Arts to present an Early Music Day on Saturday 12 July 2025 at Magdalen College. The day will consist of two afternoon concerts by Continuo […]
Rehearsal images from St Paul’s Opera’s forthcoming production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore My local opera company, St Paul’s Opera is presenting its annual Summer operatic staging at St Paul’s Church, Clapham next month (3 to […]