Events Reviews Articles Video

Find articles | Mengguang Huang

Mengguang Huang

Mengguang Huang

Mengguang Huang is a Hamburg-based project manager in the construction industry. With a strong passion for classical music, he was introduced to the world of early music during his time in the UK, where he developed a particular fondness for renaissance and Baroque vocal music. Driven by his love for this genre, he now makes it a priority to attend major Baroque opera productions and concerts across Western Europe whenever possible, continuing to deepen his appreciation for this rich musical tradition.

Author:Mengguang Huang

Put content in English at top

Showing 23 of 23 articles

Loading image...

Central European visions: Hrůša’s ambitious but uneven Night at Covent Garden

By Mengguang Huang, 20 September 2025

Dvořák’s rarely heard oratorio The Spectre’s Bride fails to ignite, leaving a performance caught uneasily between respect and restlessness.

***11

Loading image...

Hrůša’s ambitious but uneven Night at Covent Garden

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Masked marvels and Venetian mischief: Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno at Bayreuth Baroque

By Mengguang Huang, 14 September 2025

In the intimate splendour of the Margravial Opera House, Bayreuth Baroque revives Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno with a riot of colors, eight masked countertenors and a Tiepolo-like air of playful chaos.

*****

Loading image...

Masked marvels and Venetian mischief: Cavalli at Bayreuth Baroque

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

New season, new horizons: Salonen opens the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang, 03 September 2025

Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris opened the Elbphilharmonie season with a vivid journey from Strauss’s dramatic energy, through a reflective new Horn Concerto, to Sibelius’s luminous, precise grandeur.

****1

Loading image...

New season, new horizons: Salonen opens the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Istanbul metropolis in sound: Fazıl Say and Borusan in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang, 01 September 2025

At the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Fazıl Say concluded his residency with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic with an evening of jazz, Ravel and his own symphony, capturing the restless energy of an Istanbul-style metropolis.

****1

Loading image...

Istanbul metropolis in sound: Fazıl Say and Borusan in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

From Elgar to didgeridoo, the Melbourne Symphony play the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang, 28 August 2025

Under Jaime Martín, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra showcase Indigenous music through William Barton’s didgeridoo alongside Elgar and Mussorgsky, creating a visually and sonically vivid, if uneven, evening.

***11

Loading image...

From Elgar to didgeridoo: the Melbourne Symphony play the Elphi

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Vivid sounds from Rouvali, Gabetta and the Philharmonia at the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang, 25 August 2025

Rouvali and the Philharmonia dazzle with sunlit Tchaikovsky, intense Shostakovich and Say’s imaginative textures, while Gabetta’s physical, lyrical cello brings immediacy to an evening of virtuosity, warmth and playful energy.

****1

Loading image...

Vivid sounds from Rouvali, Gabetta and the Philharmonia

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Evergreen Mendelssohn: Midori and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra

By Mengguang Huang, 18 August 2025

From Mendelssohn’s intimacy to Bruckner’s monumental scale, Eschenbach’s young orchestra reveals chamber-like sensitivity and steely discipline, with Midori’s interpretation standing as the evening’s emotional and artistic highlight.

***11

Loading image...

Evergreen Mendelssohn from Midori and the Schleswig-Holstein FO

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Elemental colours and Shakespearean drama from the China NCPA Orchestra in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang, 15 August 2025

At the final stop of its European tour, the China NCPA Orchestra, led by Myung-Whun Chung with Bruce Liu, deliver luminous precision, refined Ravel and cinematic Prokofiev at the Elbphilharmonie.

****1

Loading image...

Shakespearean drama from the China NCPA Orchestra

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Kent Nagano's farewell to Hamburg: Nante and Brahms in dialogue

By Mengguang Huang, 29 June 2025

Kent Nagano’s farewell in Hamburg showcases a spiritual dialogue between tradition and innovation, pairing Brahms’ profound Fourth Symphony with the luminous world premiere of Alex Nante’s Anāhata.

****1

Loading image...

Kent Nagano's farewell to Hamburg: Nante and Brahms in dialogue

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Where the baton meets the heart: Nézet-Séguin and his Montreal orchestra

By Mengguang Huang, 26 June 2025

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s charismatic leadership and the Orchestre Métropolitain’s seamless unity brought Ravel, Saint-Saëns, and Tchaikovsky to life in a gripping, deeply expressive Hamburg performance.

*****

Loading image...

Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Red ties and trumpets: Ton Koopman’s ceremonial Bach at the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang, 23 June 2025

Ton Koopman’s Elbphilharmonie debut brings warmth, wit and stylistic brilliance to Bach’s festive cantatas, in a radiant Early Music season finale that balances ceremonial splendour with vivid, human-scale musicianship.

****1

Loading image...

Ton Koopman’s ceremonial Bach at the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

A cold blaze of dreams and consciousness: Unsuk Chin's new opera Die dunkle Seite des Mondes

By Mengguang Huang, 31 May 2025

At Staatsoper Hamburg, Unsuk Chin’s new opera The Dark Side of the Moon immerses audiences in an hypnotic, introspective journey, where dreams, science and psyche collide in a rigorously crafted, thought-provoking spectacle.

****1

Loading image...

Unsuk Chin's opera Die dunkle Seite des Mondes premieres in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

A majestic meditation on justice and compassion: Handel’s Solomon at the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang, 15 May 2025

In Hamburg, George Petrou’s Göttingen presentation of Solomon weaves regal authority and tender humanity into a vivid exploration of justice’s timeless complexity.

****1

Loading image...

Handel’s Solomon at the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

From bow to breath: Le Consort brings Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to life in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang, 11 May 2025

Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Le Consort’s Four Seasons reimagines Vivaldi’s iconic work as a dramatic journey, blending vocal expression and instrumental mastery.

****1

Loading image...

From bow to breath: Le Consort plays Vivaldi in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Sounding the sacred: an intimate passion with Voces Suaves and Gli Incogniti

By Mengguang Huang, 17 April 2025

On the eve of Good Friday, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri unfold in Hamburg as a luminous act of inner devotion, turning the vast Elbphilharmonie into a space of sacred stillness.

****1

Loading image...

An intimate passion with Voces Suaves and Gli Incogniti in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

On the Breath of Angels: Baroque rhetoric from voice to cornetto

By Mengguang Huang, 10 April 2025

A luminous evening in Hamburg's Laeiszhalle, where Hana Blažíková and Bruce Dickey revive the voice-like soul of the cornetto in a concert of breath, beauty and Baroque eloquence.

****1

Loading image...

On the Breath of Angels: Baroque rhetoric from voice to cornetto

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Sonic showcase displays Mäkelä and the Royal Concertgebouw’s masterful range

By Mengguang Huang, 01 April 2025

At the Elbphilharmonie, Klaus Mäkelä and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra deliver masterful performances, showcasing technical precision and emotional depth across a diverse programme.

****1

Loading image...

Sonic showcase displays Mäkelä and the RCO’s masterful range

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Sonic brilliance and immersive energy from Järvi, Ólafsson and the Tonhalle

By Mengguang Huang, 16 March 2025

At the Elbphilharmonie, a programme of Ligeti, Adams and Lutosławski showcases the power of modern orchestral music to engage both intellectually and emotionally.

*****

Loading image...

Sonic brilliance and immersive energy from the Tonhalle in Hamburg

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

René Jacobs confronts acoustical challenges in Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno

By Mengguang Huang, 12 March 2025

René Jacobs and Sunhae Im tackle Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno in Dortmund’s acoustically dry Reinoldihaus. Despite challenges, Im’s radiant soprano and B’Rock Orchestra’s basso continuo group shine.

****1

Loading image...

René Jacobs confronts acoustical challenges in Dortmund Handel

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Siroe, Re di Persia: a majestic and true-to-form revival at Staatstheater Karlsruhe

By Mengguang Huang, 28 February 2025

Ulrich Peters' 2024 production justifies the artistic value of Handel’s unjustly neglected opera and the literary value of Metastasio's libretto.

****1

Loading image...

Siroe, Re di Persia: a majestic and true-to-form Karlsruhe revival

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Rinaldo conducts Rinaldo: a Baroque favourite at Karlsruhe’s International Handel Festival

By Mengguang Huang, 26 February 2025

With dazzling set designs and powerhouse sopranos, Karlsruhe’s Rinaldo upholds the opera's Baroque fantasy allure in a flawed yet fascinating production, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.

***11

Loading image...

Rinaldo conducts Rinaldo at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

Delicacy at the cost of spark: Mitsuko Uchida with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra

By Mengguang Huang, 26 January 2025

While Uchida’s performances showcase remarkable precision and refinement, they occasionally feel restrained, leaving room to explore the improvisatory charm that make Mozart’s music so compelling.

***11

Loading image...

Delicacy at the cost of spark: Mitsuko Uchida with the Mahler CO

By Mengguang Huang

Loading image...

A glimpse into grandeur: The Wedding of the Sun King at the Elbphilharmonie

By Mengguang Huang, 17 January 2025

Le Poème Harmonique undertakes musical time-travelling from regal Versailles to vibrant Venice, where divine harmonies collide with earthly celebrations.

***11

Loading image...

A glimpse into grandeur: The Wedding of the Sun King

By Mengguang Huang