Reviews Index
by Barry Creasy
The Royal Albert Hall is not kind to small early-music ensembles, especially when their Prom is scheduled for the late-night slot, when there are generally…
If you are the someone who does not judder at the word ‘ambient’, then Tuesday’s Late-night Prom would have been for you. Replicating Radio 3’s...
The conductor Martyn Brabbins turned 60 recently, and to mark the occasion, fifteen of his composer friends were asked to create a set of variations...
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, who are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their foundation by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, are practically annual visitors to...
Brahms’ Variations on the St Anthony Chorale is the composer’s doff of the cap to Haydn. The harmonic world, certainly, is richer and more chromatic...
Friday’s matinée performance from the John Wilson Orchestra under their eponymous conductor was a tour de force, and arguably, the best Prom they have presented...
Nathalie Stutzmann’s shift of the focus of her work from singing to directing has been subtle yet well-managed, and her excellent rapport with the BBC...
There’s a fluid grace to Dalia Stasevska’s conducting style: she uses gesture to the full, but it is underpinned by a sure and exacting beat...
Organists love the chance to hear an instrument given a workover, especially when it is by world-renowned organist Olivier Latry, one of the titulaires des...
Longborough Festival Opera’s 2019 Young Artist production is a highly dynamic telling of La Calisto. In the process of relating the story so engagingly, a...
One of the delights of West Green House Opera is that its programming allows audiences to enjoy more than one event on the same day...
The past few seasons have seen West Green House Opera complement its main productions in the Green Theatre with an evening featuring the Simon Bates...
1969 was, of course, the year the Apollo 11 mission landed two men on the moon, and several of this year’s Proms reflect this event....
It is hard to imagine a more perfect setting than Opera Holland Park for Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s rarely performed Il segreto di Susanna of 1909. This...
There are strong views in both directions on the BBC’s expansion of Prom concerts into genres other than ‘classical’, but it cannot be denied that...
Although there is no historical record to reveal if Monteverdi ever performed his Vespers of 1610 in Venice, if we take its Basilica di San...
This season’s lunchtime Proms at Cadogan Hall follow a chronological journey across 800 years of music. The first of these, on Monday, focused on the...
With the fun it can generate, Die Fledermaus would seem to be the perfect choice for a long, balmy summer’s night at West Green House...
Some conductors could learn a lot from Kirill Karabits. His style is minimal and precise, with a clear beat and some economically expressive left-hand gestures...
Opera Holland Park has a long and proud tradition of producing operas by Italian composers whose own considerable talents were eclipsed by those of their...
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...
