Classical and Opera Reviews | musicOMH

Scholl/Halperin @ Wigmore Hall, London

by Melanie Eskenazi

Countertenors have always explored repertoire beyond the baroque, although to hear some critics you’d think that the likes of Daniels and Jaroussky were the first…

Where the Wild Things Are & Higglety Piggl...

by John-Pierre Joyce

Anyone who reaches 60 deserves a celebration; but composer and conductor Oliver Knussen also merits a full retrospective, which is what the Barbican presented in...

Where the Wild Things Are & Higglety Piggl...

Julius Caesar @ Coliseum, London

by Melanie Eskenazi

Julius Caesar is the greatest of Handel’s operas, and one of the greatest of all opera seria; it contains arias which can stand with the...

Le Nozze di Figaro

by Johnny Johnson

While he shifts the period forward some two hundred years after the opera was written, Michael Grandage maintains its setting in Andalucia but at the...

Rusalka

by Johnny Johnson

Described as a “lyric fairy tale”, this story is not Disney’s Little Mermaid but draws on much deeper, darker strands of central European myth, legend...

Nash Ensemble/Ainsley @ Wigmore Hall, London

by Evan Dickerson

This concert, the second of nine in the Nash Ensemble’s ‘Dreamers of Dreams’ English music series, culminated in a visionary performance of Vaughan Williams’ On...

Nash Ensemble/Ainsley @ Wigmore Hall, London

Florilegium @ Wigmore Hall, London

by John-Pierre Joyce

The 300th anniversary this year of the birth of Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786) has prompted a flurry of celebratory concerts and recordings. All...

Alina Ibragimova @ Wigmore Hall, London

by Sam Smith

Even losing one half of her act could not hold violinist Alina Ibragimova back. When pianist Stephen Kovacevich sadly had to withdraw from this recital...

BBC SO/Wigglesworth @ Barbican Hall, London

by John-Pierre Joyce

The programme notes for this opening concert in a series devoted to the music of Michael Tippett included an interview with the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s...

BBC SO/Wigglesworth @ Barbican Hall, London

Rusalka @ Glyndebourne Tour, Glynde

by admin

Glyndebourne launched its 2012 Tour on Saturday night, with a performance of Melly Still’s 2009 production which was then much admired, and now fell like...

The Emperor of Atlantis @ Linbury Studio, Royal...

by John-Pierre Joyce

English Touring Opera’s production of Victor Ullman’s one-act opera The Emperor of Atlantis stands tall as a result of its insight into the opera’s subject...

The Emperor of Atlantis @ Linbury Studio, Royal...

Julietta @ Coliseum, London

by Christian Hoskins

The most remarkable feature of ENO’s new production of Martinů’s Julietta is its striking visual appearance. First seen at Palais Garnier in Paris in 2002,...

Elina Garanča @ Barbican Hall, London

by Sam Smith

Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča is already famous for her interpretation of the Spanish temptress Carmen. In this recital, however, brilliantly supported by the LSO under...

LPO/Jurowski @ Royal Festival Hall, London

by John-Pierre Joyce

With its theme of bells, this concert represented a bold and imaginative piece of programme planning by the London Philharmonic. Metal chimes have a deeply...

LPO/Jurowski @ Royal Festival Hall, London

LSO/Gergiev @ Barbican Hall, London

by John-Pierre Joyce

Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra kicked off their 2012-13 season with what promises to be a fascinating insight into the music of Polish...