Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Benedict Nelson

Showing 31 of 31 reviews

Read reviews in other languages: Deutsch

Loading image...

Moreton-in-Marsh

Fame and feuding on the Rhine: Longborough's new Götterdämmerung

By Roy Westbrook, 29 May 2023

Longborough's Ring Cycle reaches completion in the Cotswold's, effectively staged by Amy Lane.

****1

Loading image...

****1

Moreton-in-Marsh

29 May 2023

Fame and feuding on the Rhine: Longborough's new Götterdämmerung

By Roy Westbrook

Loading image...

London

Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” raises the Royal Albert Hall roof

By David Truslove, 23 October 2022

A cast of hundreds – if not a thousand – assembles under Vasily Petrenko for a performance of grandeur and power in the Royal Albert Hall.

****1

Loading image...

****1

London

23 Oct 2022

Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” raises the Royal Albert Hall roof

By David Truslove

Loading image...

Sheffield

Something old, something new: The Hallé brings Sheffield season to a barnstorming close

By Phil Parker, 11 June 2022

Finnegan Downie Dear conducts a cast of thousands (well, hundreds) in a concert of old favourites, plus a stunning recent work by Thomas Adès.

****1

Loading image...

****1

Sheffield

11 Jun 2022

The Hallé brings Sheffield season to a barnstorming close

By Phil Parker

London

Alwyn's Miss Julie rescued from the operatic desert

By Mark Pullinger, 03 October 2019

William Alwyn's operatic take on Strindberg is rarely performed – a complete mystery considering this excellent concert staging at the Barbican by the BBCSO under Sakari Oramo.

****1

****1

London

03 Oct 2019

Alwyn's Miss Julie rescued from the operatic desert

By Mark Pullinger

London

Total Immersion: A deep dive into the work of Nadia and Lili Boulanger

By Timmy Fisher, 06 April 2019

James Gaffigan and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus provide the climax to a worthy day of discovery at the Barbican.

****1

****1

London

06 Apr 2019

A deep dive into the work of Nadia and Lili Boulanger

By Timmy Fisher

Glasgow

Anthropocene: a timely chiller from Scottish Opera

By David Smythe, 26 January 2019

Climate change, challenged egos and a strange Ice woman tell a gruesome tale in Anthropocene, a finely sung new opera from Stuart MacRae, with libretto from Louise Welsh, set in the Arctic with a cinematic score.

***11

***11

Glasgow

26 Jan 2019

Anthropocene: a timely chiller from Scottish Opera

By David Smythe

London

The Silver Tassie makes a triumphant return

By Stephen Pritchard, 10 November 2018

Mark-Anthony Turnage's First World War opera both moves and dazzles at the Barbican.

*****

*****

London

10 Nov 2018

The Silver Tassie makes a triumphant return

By Stephen Pritchard

Madrid

The vindication of a neglected masterpiece: a landmark Gloriana at the Teatro Real

By Fernando Remiro, 14 April 2018

Ivor Bolton and David McVicar have teamed up to create an unapologetically Brittenian Gloriana, with Anna Caterina Antonacci at the top of a great cast

*****

*****

Madrid

14 Apr 2018

A landmark Gloriana at the Teatro Real

By Fernando Remiro

Winchester

Royal Choral Society impresses with Russian music at Winchester Cathedral

By David Truslove, 20 May 2017

Intended to signify the contribution of Russian music to the Western canon, the Royal Choral Society gave admirable performances of two major choral works, rarely heard in Winchester Cathedral.

****1

****1

Winchester

20 May 2017

Royal Choral Society impresses with Russian music

By David Truslove

Glasgow

Food for thought in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper

By David Smythe, 14 January 2017

An excellent performance of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper receiving its Scottish première, with Roderick Williams and Susan Bickley heading a luxury cast.

****1

****1

Glasgow

14 Jan 2017

Food for thought: Birtwistle’s The Last Supper

By David Smythe

Saffron Walden

A welcome return: Monteverdi's Ulysses’ Homecoming, English Touring Opera

By Charlotte Valori, 02 November 2016

ETO's charactistically clear, simple production conveys Homer's story with clarity, confidence, and charm – and even humour – from a fine cast, making an exciting start to fully-staged opera at Saffron Hall.

****1

****1

Saffron Walden

02 Nov 2016

A welcome return: Monteverdi's Ulysses’ Homecoming

By Charlotte Valori

London

Nuns on the run: laughs aplenty in Chelsea Opera's Le Comte Ory

By Mark Pullinger, 25 June 2016

Italian swagger and French farce combining to raise some much needed laughs despite the restrictions of a concert performance at Cadogan Hall.

***11

***11

London

25 Jun 2016

Nuns on the run: Le Comte Ory

By Mark Pullinger

London

Wilde life: The Importance of Being Earnest, the opera

By Matthew Rye, 29 March 2016

Gerald Barry’s deliciously anarchic operatic setting of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest returns to the London stage.

*****

*****

London

29 Mar 2016

Wilde life: The Importance of Being Earnest

By Matthew Rye

Turin

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Turin: Baroque astonishment and wonder

By Edoardo Pelligra, 26 November 2015

Though musically played with participation and sensitivitythe, this production was full of jugglers, acrobats, dancers, circus performers and mimes.

***11

***11

Turin

26 Nov 2015

Baroque astonishment and wonder in Turin

By Edoardo Pelligra

London

A fabulous Figaro from Fiona Shaw for English National Opera

By Charlotte Valori, 16 October 2014

Full of physical comedy, joyous and enthusiastic, Fiona Shaw's vision of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro makes the most of its taut and energetic plotlines, intense charactisation and beautifully balanced music.

****1

****1

London

16 Oct 2014

A fabulous Figaro at ENO

By Charlotte Valori

London

Bach Unwrapped Finale: Mass in B minor

By Julia Savage, 21 December 2013

J S Bach's opus ultimum, the Mass in B Minor, was also the opus ultimum of the year-long Bach Unwrapped series at Kings Place. Unfortunately, it proved not to be the crowning glory it might have been.

***11

***11

London

21 Dec 2013

Bach Unwrapped Finale: Mass in B minor

By Julia Savage

Manchester

The Hallé and Markus Stenz: Brahms Requiem and Wolfgang Rihm

By Rohan Shotton, 24 October 2013

Principal Guest Conductor Markus Stenz conducted a pair of very different works by fellow Germans, both featuring a strong nod towards Britain. The music spoke for itself, with a beautiful and original Brahms Requiem the highlight of the evening.The title of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem is quite significant.

****1

****1

Manchester

24 Oct 2013

The Hallé and Markus Stenz: Brahms Requiem and Wolfgang Rihm

By Rohan Shotton

Leeds

Leeds Lieder Festival: Benedict Nelson and Graham Johnson, and a new work by Judith Bingham

By Richard Wilcocks, 13 October 2013

The first part of the Celebrity Recital which brought the Leeds Lieder Festival to a close was entitled “Schubert Looking North”, which included a section on German versions of British poets.

***11

***11

Leeds

13 Oct 2013

Leeds Lieder Festival: Benedict Nelson and Graham Johnson, and a new work by Judith Bingham

By Richard Wilcocks

Leeds

Opera North's triumphant Peter Grimes returns to Leeds

By Richard Wilcocks, 14 September 2013

A very welcome and triumphant revival of Peter Grimes begins Opera North’s Festival of Britten season, soon to be followed by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Death in Venice. The work has often been described as Britten’s greatest, the paeans of praise beginning soon after its first performance just after the Second World War, often involving the word “enigma”.

*****

*****

Leeds

14 Sep 2013

Opera North's triumphant Peter Grimes returns to Leeds

By Richard Wilcocks

Gloucester

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's The Song of Hiawatha at the Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester

By Andrew H. King, 01 August 2013

Over the centuries, the Three Choirs Festival has developed a commendable trait in presenting the very best in English choral music; in more recent years the Festival has been committed to resurrecting once popular works that have been considered worthy of reassessment and, following on from last year’s performance of George Dyson’s Canterbury Pilgrims, this year the lot fell to Samuel Coleridge-T

****1

****1

Gloucester

01 Aug 2013

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's The Song of Hiawatha at the Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester

By Andrew H. King

London

Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest staged at the ROH Linbury Studio

By Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, 14 June 2013

Interviewed at the Barbican Centre last year, Stephen Fry described Gerald Barry’s score for The Importance of Being Earnest (2010) rather unfavourably as “taking a machete to a soufflé”. However, this zany opera based on Oscar Wilde’s classic play of 1895 has already emerged victorious from concert premières in Los Angeles and London.

****1

****1

London

14 Jun 2013

Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest staged at the ROH Linbury Studio

By Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade

London

Outstanding Rossini singing from Lucy Crowe in ENO's Barber of Seville

By David Karlin, 25 February 2013

In the celebratedly short time in which Rossini wrote The Barber of Seville, he got into a time capsule and took a short trip to twenty-first century London; on his return to 1816 Rome, he wrote the part of Rosina for Lucy Crowe's voice. Or at least, that's what it felt like at ENO last night, as Crowe turned in a performance which outstrips my ability to find superlatives.

***11

***11

London

25 Feb 2013

Outstanding Rossini singing from Lucy Crowe in ENO's Barber of Seville

By David Karlin

London

The Pilgrim's Progress to the London Coliseum

By Andrew H. King, 05 November 2012

Professional performances of English operas are rare – they always have been – and it is presumably the 60th anniversary of The Pilgrim’s Progress specifically that has prompted this 2012 revival. It seems that without a significant anniversary to justify blowing the dust off a score, English operas tend to lie unheeded – the exception of course is Benjamin Britten.

***11

***11

London

05 Nov 2012

The Pilgrim's Progress to the London Coliseum

By Andrew H. King

Leeds

Leeds Lieder+ From Europe to America – A Day of Song

By Richard Wilcocks, 14 October 2012

The sharp linguistic and enunciative abilities of Romanian mezzo Adriana Festeu are as impressive as her singing. Accompanied by Nico de Villiers, she launched “Leeds Lieder+ From Europe to America – A Day of Song” in the morning at Leeds University’s Clothworkers Hall with “Songs My Mother Taught Me”. She dealt very convincingly with Dvořák’s Gypsy Songs in Czech, followed by 5 Lieder, Op.

****1

****1

Leeds

14 Oct 2012

Leeds Lieder+ From Europe to America – A Day of Song

By Richard Wilcocks

London

Dark deeds on the high seas: Billy Budd at ENO

By David Karlin, 23 June 2012

For a taut drama about the relationships between men thrown together in an enclosed space, it's hard to imagine a better setting than the claustrophobic environment of a warship in Nelson's navy.

****1

****1

London

23 Jun 2012

Dark deeds on the high seas: Billy Budd at ENO

By David Karlin

London

The ENO's Elixir of Love

By Intermezzo, 15 September 2011

For all their eagerness to embrace the new and radical, ENO are often at their best in more traditional fare. Jonathan Miller's delightful production, first seen last season, charms more than it challenges with a candy-coloured evocation of a more innocent age. The apple pie America of a 1950s prairie diner replaces the 19th century Italian village of Donizetti's original.

London

15 Sep 2011

The ENO's Elixir of Love

By Intermezzo

London

A Midsummer Night's Dream at English National Opera

By Intermezzo, 19 May 2011

Several audience members didn't bother to return after the interval, and there were a few walkouts even before that. It seems Christopher Alden's darkly brilliant new production isn't for everybody. But those of us who stuck it out for the full three hours were rewarded with a reminder that beneath the surface of the Shakespeare-based fairy fable lurk some disquieting truths.

*****

*****

London

19 May 2011

A Midsummer Night's Dream at English National Opera

By Intermezzo

London

A new slant on "A Midsummer night's Dream"

By Travis Mason, 19 May 2011

"Intermezzo" has submitted an excellent and comprehensive review of the opening night of this classy new production, but I was so shocked to hear booing from neighbouring seats that perhaps I might be permitted to add this view from a relative opera novice? I've not seen this opera before, or even the Shakespeare play, so although I had nothing to compare it with, I also had nothing to miss in th

London

19 May 2011

A new slant on "A Midsummer night's Dream"

By Travis Mason

London

Gounod's Faust at the ENO

By David Karlin, 21 September 2010

For a long period, Charles Gounod's Faust was one of the most frequently performed operas, its popularity due to a lusciously romantic score which contains a series of showstopping set-piece arias, many of which have found their way into popular culture (to give just one example, the Jewel Song in Act III has a starring role in the Tintin story The Castafiore Emerald).

**111

**111

London

21 Sep 2010

Gounod's Faust at the ENO

By David Karlin

London

The Lion's Face

By Alison Karlin, 21 July 2010

The Lion's Face: The name comes from the clinicial description of the Alzheimer face with features settling into “leonine impassivity.” Librettist Glyn Maxwell spent five years researching this opera about dementia and this shines through in his portrayal of the life of an Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home.

London

21 Jul 2010

The Lion's Face

By Alison Karlin

Amsterdam

Wahnsinniger Opernthriller: The Second Violinist in Amsterdam

By Michael Klier, 07 March 2019

Enda Walsh und Donnacha Dennehy ziehen die Zuschauer des Opera Forward Festivals mit ihrer Oper in ihren Bann.

*****

*****

Amsterdam

07 Mar 2019

Wahnsinniger Opernthriller: The Second Violinist in Amsterdam

By Michael Klier