A mix of arias from Handel's first opera with music from Renaissance and Baroque Spain with an accomplished group of performers provides a rich and satisfying experience.
The evening left you in no doubt that in Donnerstag aus Licht is more approachable than many would imagine, as well as being a major creative achievement that is crying out to be explored by opera houses.
The Seasons is overstuffed, uneven and way too busy. There are so many steps, but they rarely made me "see the music". It was a frustrating ballet, with so many lovely moments that were less than the sum of its parts.
A thoroughly satisfying, entertaining production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte from Irish National Opera. Anna Devin delivers a delightful Pamina and Nick Pritchard a convincing Tamino.
Thomas Adès and the Britten Sinfonia now enter the final phase of their three year Beethoven and Barry cycle with rewarding interpretations of Beethoven's Seventh and Eighth,separated by a new Viola Concerto from Barry.
Dead Man Walking receives its UK stages premiere at RCS with two barnstorming central performances and a huge cast. Conductor James Holmes brought this modern American classic to passionate life.
Cast changes and a revival director who sharpens up the action make all the difference to this revival of Rossini's *Barber of Seville* in Glyndebourne's opening weekend.
A concert featuring noteworthy choral works by Gabriel Fauré and his students Florent Schmitt and Lili Boulanger brings the fascinating musical milieu of turn-of-the-century Paris to life.
Laurence Cummings conducting the FestspielOrchester Göttingen and the NDR Chor, with an exemplary suite of vocal soloists, but a slightly problematic venue, sweep all before them in the Handel Festival of 2020.
Christopher Purves bosses the show as Méphistophélès; Richard Jones' production is intelligent and carefully thought through but ultimately unconvincing.
When it was announced from the stage that Gustavo Dudamel would not be conducting due to a "family emergency," the orchestra played for Conducting Fellow Stephen Mulligan as if he were a maestro.
Angela Meade shone in the soprano solo, beautifully backed by leader Tamas Kocsis, in the passage that segues into the stunning "Abraham thou didst promise" section.
Coming full circle, Bill Barclay brings his adaptation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra featuring Florent Schmitt’s opulent musical score to the Virginia Arts Festival, led by the conductor whose recording started it all.
What do you do when 80 tonnes of water flood your theatre, your sets and costumes? Rescue, reshape and present what you can. That’s what Deutsche Oper am Rhein have had to do in Duisburg.
Franz Welser-Möst thoughtfully paired Schubert’s final mass with Bartók’s final piano concerto, the latter featuring Mitsuko Uchida in her 100th Cleveland Orchestra appearance.
Berg, unlike his teacher Schoenberg, didn't throw out the baby with the bathwater; Bruckner too never forgot his traditional roots. The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Paavo Järvi and Laura Aikin demonstrate.
Composer Claude Vivier approaches the unknowable with a text delivered by a septet of vocalists in a language of his own invention. But the new production adds overly literal video, trading abstraction for the obvious.
A concerto was the sandwich, and a very fine one too, but no overture and no symphony: who else would have married Skalkottas and Prokofiev with Mozart's last piano concerto?
The renowned IOS is geared to young singers of fine merit and talent. It recently premiered a new production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia near Zurich.
Harlequinade shows Ratmansky's usual scrupulous care when reconstructing Petipa's ballets. His attention to detail and obvious love for the art form are to be admired. But these ballets are also living, breathing works and they need strong performances to be viable in the repertory.
Inferno, after Dante's Divine Comedy, is a 46-minute ballet score rich in astounding, ingenious, sumptuous effects with a particular genius for unlikely combinations of instruments, and only a few obvious Lisztian references.
The unfolding of the tale was beautifully unhurried, made all the more effective by not being an updating. Underscoring connections to the current day wasn’t necessary. The contemporary reverberations were apparent.
A much-loved 1991 production evoking Fellini’s post-war glamour and grime is revived with three talented young principals, including Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat in the title role.
The ending of Stars and Stripesis a sure-fire applause machine. The lowering of the flag while all the regiments march and salute onstage is so corny that only Balanchine could have choreographed it with a straight face. And yet it worked in 1958 and it works in 2019.
An affectionate Trout played by long-standing colleagues and friends from Royal Northern Sinfonia, along with Imogen Holst's Phantasy Quartet and Thomas Adès's fascinating Piano Quintet.
The dance company of the Konzert Theater Bern recently staged a programme showing two perspectives on the imagination of the great Swiss-born artist, Paul Klee (1879-1940).
After a popular first half including a fine Grieg Piano Concerto, the Belgrade Philharmonic gave a showpiece performance of Schoenberg's early symphonic poem.
El Cimarrón proved worthy of both stage and museum, presenting the story of Esteban Montejo, born into slavery in Cuba in 1869 and later escaping to live in the forest.
Ballets live and die by their scores – as Balanchine knew when he kept returning to Stravinsky. His Symphony in Three Movements will live forever, as will Justin Peck's The Times are Racing, to Dan Deacon's America.
Barry Douglas, in his home town, gives an excellent reading of a piece central to his repertoire,while Olari Elts puts the Ulster Orchestra through their paces in a highly colourful Petrushka.
