Opera and Classical Reviews
by Yangen Xu
I owe all my readers and the LSO an apology for being late to this concert. Due to major delays on the tube, I had…
by Helen Wright
It’s a long time since I’ve been helpless with laughter at an opera house. I blame the sheep.Actually it happened more than once – and...
by Dominic McHugh
To read our reviews of the Royal Opera’s 2007 run of The Ring, check here from 3 October Gtterdmmerung (Credit: Clive Barda)With Twilight of the...
by Helen Wright
Vaughan Williams wrote the most glorious orchestral music but is less well known for his operatic work.Sir John In Love, based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives...
by Zan Buckner
For her first foray into opera, Broadway soprano Audra McDonald takes on a world premire as part of an ambitious one-woman double bill.McDonald has won...
by Dominic McHugh
Jonathan Miller’s production of Verdi’s Rigoletto remains not only his best production of any opera I can remember him directing in London, but also one...
by Dominic McHugh
At the height of the first scene of Verdi’s ninth opera, Attila, a Roman general tries to strike a bargain with the notorious Hun: ‘You...
by Ben Hogwood
Riccardo Chailly‘s was just such a performance, andwent some way to proving the Leipzig Gewandhaus are ontheir way back to recapturing past glories. Theperformance fizzed...
by Dominic McHugh
track listing1. Amapola2. Besame Mucho3. Kes Feuilles Mortes4. Mi Manchi5. Somos Novios (with Christina Aguilera)6. Solamente Una Vez7. Jurame (Feat. Mario Reyes)8. Pero Te Extrano9....
by William Norris
This was an exhilarating concert – even the five curtain calls at the end couldn’t do it justice.The early nineteenth-century Austrian composer Franz Schubert was,...
by Dominic McHugh
Twenty years on, Jonathan Miller’s production of The Mikado remains witty and diverting.It’s without a doubt the greatest of the Savoy operas by W. S....
by Dominic McHugh
Snow, rain, ice skaters, a lake – the Royal Opera’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s most familiar and enduring opera has it all.And in the two...
by Dominic McHugh
It was fascinating to hear Mahler’s Fifth Symphony the day after hearing Berg’s Wozzeck. Both composers dwelt in Vienna at the turn of the twentieth...
by Yangen Xu
For the first-time concertgoer unfamiliar with the sound of a string orchestra, attending the LSO’s Genius of the Violin: ‘Take a Bow!’ Concert could have...
by Dominic McHugh
Four years’ work went into the composition of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and you can really tell it’s his most intricate piece, and one of the...
by Dominic McHugh
Verve, wit, excitement, joy: only a few of the many facets to this concert by the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis. Opening with...
by Dominic McHugh
When the LSO opened their 2005-6 season in September with Sibelius’ Kullervo symphony, I was startled by the composer’s sense of the dramatic, something I...
by Dominic McHugh
track listing1. Introduction2. Kullervo’s Youth3. Kullervo and his sister4. Kullervo goes to battle5. Kullervo’s death When the LSO opened their 2005-6 season in September with...
by Zan Buckner
Nothing much has changed in the world of politics. That is one strikingpoint brought home by watching Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe.Nashville Opera Artistic Director, John...
by Dominic McHugh
When Keith Warner’s production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck opened in 2002, it wowed the crowds and won every award in the book.Over three years down...
