roh-fille_opera

La fille du r

by Dominic McHugh

With a well-known cast and production team, the Royal Opera’s new production of Donizetti’s La fille du rgiment – its first in forty years –…



Mozart, Devienne, Brahms @ Wigmore Hall, London

by Dominic McHugh

Gordan Nikolitch is one of the wonders of the classical world. On Thursday and Sunday he led the London Symphony Orchestra’s concerts at the Barbican...

Mozart – Piano Concerto No 20; Shostakovi...

by Dominic McHugh

Maria Joo Pires playing the piece in the second of her two concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra. Although her tone was creamy and her...

LSO/Colin Davis @ Barbican Hall, London

by Dominic McHugh

I half expected the London Symphony Orchestra to acknowledge Sir Colin Davis’ entrance tonight with a rendition of ‘Hail to the Chief’.For this was his...

Mozart: Piano Concerto No 27; Shostakovich: Sym...

by Dominic McHugh

Mozart was born 250 years ago this month, and it’s the centenary of Shostakovich‘s birth in September. Bernard Haitink joined the London Symphony Orchestra to...

Le nozze di Figaro

by Dominic McHugh

Opera doesn’t get much better than The Marriage of Figaro.The score is probably Mozart’s finest for the stage, full of comedy, romance, envy, joy and...

The Bartered Bride

by Dominic McHugh

It’s a sure sign of disaster when the loudest cheer during an opera comes in response to a circus divertissement. Sadly, this was the case...

La traviata

by Dominic McHugh

It’s only a year since the Royal Opera revived Sir Richard Eyre’s atmospheric staging of Verdi’s La traviata. Why is it back so soon, especially...

Valery Gergiev – Shostakovich: Symphonies...

by Ben Hogwood

With the centenary of Shostakovich’s birth nearly upon us, Valery Gergiev will be the focus of the commemorations for many, the start of his Barbican...

Prom 72: Bruckner – Symphony No 8 @ Royal...

by Ben Hogwood

Bruckner’s Eighth symphony is the biggest of all 19th century symphonies, and if any one orchestra could exercise a performing claim on it, that orchestra...

Prom 71: Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring;...

by Ben Hogwood

Any quibbles about this being yet another major orchestra to bring Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring to the Proms were thrown emphatically out of court at...

Prom 68: Tchaikovsky – Symphony No 4; Raw...

by Ben Hogwood

Rumon Gamba has made his name more recently as a prolific conductor of film scores by British classical composers, and on that basis the drama...

Prom 65: Brahms – Symphony No 1; Lutoslaw...

by Ben Hogwood

Considering the Concertgebouw rank as one of theworld’s top orchestras it was disappointing to see anumber of empty seats in the Albert Hall to greettheir...

Prom 60: Mahler – Symphony No 3 @ Royal A...

by Ben Hogwood

Phew. A hot Royal Albert Hall is not the place to be on such a clammy night, still less if the music programmed is a...

Prom 58: Verdi – Requiem @ Royal Albert H...

by Gareth Webb

This performance of Verdi’s Requiem by the BBC Symphony Chorus and the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus satisfied in places but missed the mark in...

Prom 54: Gorecki – Symphony No 3 @ Royal ...

by Ben Hogwood

Henryk Gorecki’s third symphony has enjoyed an extraordinary popularity over the last decade or so, with a pioneering recording from Dawn Upshaw that has made...

Prom 53: Walton – Symphony No 1; Ravel &#...

by Ben Hogwood

A most endearing feature of the Proms is the encouragement of youth orchestras, and tonight it was the turn of the European Community ensemble to...