Verdi’s Aida is a powerful paradox: a breathtaking grand opera that is also intensely intimate. When the recently self-appointed chair of Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts decided to commission a new, follow up celebratory opera to mark the return of...
Jove went rogue. He had been trolling the glam nymph Calisto, one of goddess Diana’s followers, below. On earth. Enraptured by her pouting Instagram selfies. Failing miserably. Not even an encouraging emoji for his troubles. Her vow of chastity held out. No first-time...
“Here we are again!”. The catchline of 19th century English music hall star, comedian, drag artist and singer Dan Leno, given a leading role in Kevin Puts’ opera, Elizabeth Cree, about The Limehouse Golem. Cheery subject for an upstate New York...
Nowhere transforms the English countryside into fairyland better than Garsington Opera stage. No opera is more atmospheric than Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In dampish Oxfordshire Wormsley estate the planets were aligned, all set fair,...
Fifty years ago, Christopher Hogwood grafted a new shoot to the tree of British classical music. His brainchild, the Academy of Ancient Music, was to champion the performance of Baroque music on contemporary instruments, providing listeners with a better understanding...
As BA cabin arrival announcements go, on landing at Larnaca in Cyprus, this was a doozy. “For those of you who have turned on your mobile phones and hit the ‘Maps’ button, we are not in Beirut”. Of course, I immediately disabled flight mode and fingered my iPhone...
All out Handel cyber-attack in Halle, Germany. Hang on! Cyber? Baroque, surely, at this 8th-century city’s annual Handelfest. You know, the towering headdresses, spangled costumes, descending Gods in fiery chariots, courtly dances, lots of standing about singing at...
Baroque opera, based as it usually is on improbable ancient myths and legends, nearly always benefits from a fresh eye from a bold director. If today’s audiences are to understand what the hell is going on, a quirky take will grab attention. Louisa Proske, Resident...
I had to respond to Reaction’s imperious demand; the motto is “Nessun Dorma” (no one sleeps). Berlin, Sunday, 12 May 15:00 CET: Unter den Linden. Event? Opera Meets New Media, an exhibition in the stunning Bertelsmann building illustrating...
In Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Enrico Ashton gaslights his sister, Lucia, into believing her lover, Edgardo, penniless and a sworn political enemy, has abandoned her. Successfully gaslit, Enrico manipulates Lucia into marrying the rich...
“A boy of peculiar grace”. Experience Jazz musician, Terence Blanchard’s opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, for the first time and that phrase will live with you forever. In five simple words and a few bars of haunting, lyrical, music, Blanchard and his librettist,...
The Rest is Opera:
Making opera fun for those of us who ain’t aficianados!
His outing to the Glimmerglass opera festival in upstate New York in August has been scrubbed. One of his favourite calendar items, the festival is a showcase for up and coming artists and cutting-edge productions. He was particularly looking forward to a performance...