Prom 1: BBC SO / Canellakis @ Royal Albert Hall, London

This season’s First Night opened with the first musical tribute marking the half-century anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on Mare tranquillitatis. Zosha di Castri’s commissioned...

Don Giovanni @ Longborough Festival Opera, Longborough

Martin Constantine’s new production of Don Giovanni for Longborough Festival Opera proves clever in making the opera feel relevant to the modern day. At the...

The Final Fling with Simon Keenlyside and Jazz Friends @ Grange Park Opera, West Horsley

Grange Park Opera rounded off its 2019 season with two one-off events featuring opera singers who are right at the top of their game. First...

The Turn of the Screw @ Garsington Opera, Wormsley

“Only make the reader’s general vision of evil intense enough, and his own experience, his own imagination, his own sympathy and horror will supply him...

Le nozze di Figaro @ Royal Opera House, London

Why is Figaro measuring up to see if the bed will fit, when it’s already attached to the wall? What are sixteen servants doing apart...

Rusalka @ Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lewes

Third time around for Melly Still’s beautiful, challenging production of Dvořák’s Rusalka, a non-sentimental reading of the fairy tale, with Nature “Red in tooth and...

The Demon @ Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Although Anton Rubinstein’s The Demon was popular on its premiere in St Petersburg in 1875, the greater surprise on hearing the piece is that it...

Così fan tutte @ Nevill Holt Opera, Market Harborough

There are many ways to stage Così fan tutte and for a long time a lot of directors chose to set it in the modern...

Belshazzar @ The Grange Festival, Northington

After a deeply moving, finely sung Le nozze di Figaro and a gloriously staged, superbly cast Falstaff, this production of one of Handel’s finest oratorios...

Anna Bolena @ Longborough Festival Opera, Longborough

If it is ambitious for a 500-seat opera house to attempt Der Ring des Nibelungen, it is only slightly less so for it to take...

Leeds Lieder Fundraising Gala @ Wigmore Hall, London

The man that hath no music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils. (The...

Cendrillon @ Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lewes

Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Massenet’s Cendrillon, developed by Fiona Dunn from Fiona Shaw’s 2018 Glyndebourne on Tour production, certainly places the notion of the...

Don Carlo @ Grange Park Opera, West Horsley

Jo Davies’ production has successfully made the transition to the new house at West Horsley, although not all of the singing could be described as...

Fantasio @ Garsington Opera, Wormsley

Offenbach’s Fantasio only lasted for ten performances on its premiere in Paris in 1872, although when one listens to the work it is difficult to...

Howling @ St John’s Smith Square, London

A brief paragraph in the minimal programme for the Anstieg Symphony Orchestra’s concert on Friday described the connection between the two main works (Maxwell Davies’...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Nevill Holt Opera, Market Harborough

If 2018 brought great excitement as Nevill Holt Opera opened its new 400-seat opera house inside its historic stable block courtyard, and commenced orchestral partnerships...

Stile Antico / Azar @ Wigmore Hall, London

Of John Dowland’s seven instrumental Lachrimae Pavans, only one was given words by the composer, when he subsequently re-set it as the lute-song Flow my...

Un ballo in maschera @ Opera Holland Park, London

A strong aesthetic, excellent conducting and outstanding principal performances combine to create a compelling production of Un ballo in maschera at Opera Holland Park. There...

Falstaff @ The Grange Festival, Northington

“It’s say funneah!” Indeed it is, and the young lady who opined thus seemed to be a ‘first timer’ in terms of opera. Falstaff was...

Le nozze di Figaro @ The Grange Festival, Northington

‘Ah! tutti contenti,…’ the sublime closing chorus following the Countess’ tear-inducing forgiveness of her errant husband, can seldom have sounded more weighted with equivocation, but...