Mark has worked in arts journalism for more than thirty years, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera, music and musical theatre. Mark also writes for Musical America as opera correspondent for Europe and the UK.
Director Adele Thomas can do no wrong, sustaining her extraordinary run of fizz with this unlikely concatenation of four Handel cantatas at Stone Nest.
The Sixteen’s work is spoilt by a shortage of violins and some uneven solo contributions. Such imperfections only serve to highlight the excellence of the very best.
In a face-off between Gabriele Viviani's Scarpia and Malin Byström’s Tosca in this solid revival of Jonathan Kent's 2006 production, there could only be one winner
With a powerful but not world-beating team of soloists, Gardner and the LPO tackle Schoenberg's sprawling cantata with aplomb – except for one near-catastrophic misstep.
It’s a risky business to describe comic nuance or timing, so please take my word that these qualities were as pitch-perfect as the vocal prowess on display.
