Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Christopher Lemmings

An ideal young cast and a thoughtful production bring fresh perspectives to Puccini's tragedy.

The Teatro dell'Opera opens its season with the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli and Ian Burton's new Shakespearean work, under the baton of Daniele Gatti and the direction of Robert Carsen.

Unsuk Chin's opera Alice in Wonderland is performed by the Los Angeles Philarharmonic, conducted by Susanna Mälkki. This is no Disney movie! 

While there’s no reason that a children’s opera should be simple or easy, there’s no real need for it to be difficult either. So I was a little confused going into the Barbican’s performance of Oliver Knussen’s brilliant brace of Maurice Sendak adaptations this Saturday, which was surrounded, despite the works’ subject matter, with a slightly unbecoming aura of seriousness.

The memory has dimmed somewhat in the past few years. But it remains firmly entrenched in my mind. I wish I could say that this moment was a formative one in my development as musicologist; that destiny took hold of this young boy and led him to the path of his eventual vocation. But no such thing happened.