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The martyrs and the oppressed: Peter Grimes at Teatro Real Madrid

By Juan José Freijo, 19 April 2021

The new production of Peter Grimes stands out as the strongest item in Teatro Real's season, with magnificent staging by Deborah Warner and superb musical direction by Ivor Bolton, with outstanding vocal and dramatic performances.

*****

*****

Madrid

21 Apr 2021

The martyrs and the oppressed: Peter Grimes at Teatro Real Madrid

By Juan José Freijo

Dublin

Spiritually uplifting Bach from the Bach Collegium Japan

By Andrew Larkin, 09 March 2020

Three beautiful cantatas from Bach and his Mass in F major made for a rewarding concert with the Bach Collegium Japan. Suzuki directs a thoughtful and heartfelt rendition and is joined by a quartet of excellent soloists.

****1

****1

Dublin

10 Mar 2020

Spiritually uplifting Bach from the Bach Collegium Japan

By Andrew Larkin

London

An early Christmas present from Stephen Layton & Co.

By Benjamin Poore, 23 December 2019

A lithe and engaging performance of Handel's festive regular from Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

****1

****1

London

28 Dec 2019

An early Christmas present from Stephen Layton & Co.

By Benjamin Poore

London

True Grimes: a gripping semi-staging of Britten’s opera

By Matthew Rye, 30 November 2019

A psychologically penetrating semi-staging of Britten’s Peter Grimes from leading soloists, the Bergen Philharmonic and its chief conductor Ed Gardner laid bare the opera’s music and drama.

****1

****1

London

01 Dec 2019

True Grimes: a gripping semi-staging of Britten’s opera

By Matthew Rye

Adelaide

Thrilling King Arthur from the Gabrieli Consort in Adelaide

By Brian Angus, 18 February 2019

With marvellous cohesion, life and wit the Gabrieli Consort and Players, sponsored by State Opera of South Australia, who thrilled Adelaide audiences with their presentation of English Baroque.

****1

****1

Adelaide

19 Feb 2019

Thrilling King Arthur from the Gabrieli Consort in Adelaide

By Brian Angus

Edinburgh

Edward Gardner and the Bergen Phil storm the Edinburgh Festival with a powerful Peter Grimes

By David Smythe, 13 August 2017

Stuart Skelton’s visceral Peter Grimes is matched by a strong cast with thrilling playing and singing from the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner.

****1

****1

Edinburgh

14 Aug 2017

A powerful Peter Grimes in Edinburgh

By David Smythe

Bergen

Psychologically splintered: Stuart Skelton leads a stellar Peter Grimes in Bergen

By Mark Valencia, 30 May 2017

This Peter Grimes was a tale of two talents: the conductor and the star.

*****

*****

Bergen

31 May 2017

A stellar Peter Grimes in Bergen

By Mark Valencia

High Wycombe

Garsington Opera and Rambert: The Creation

By Graham Watts, 14 July 2016

A verdant and heavenly setting for The Creation

****1

****1

High Wycombe

17 Jul 2016

The Creation (Rambert Dance at Garsington)

By Graham Watts

Cambridge

Lucky Lieder dip: A celebration of Goethe from James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook

By Charlotte Valori, 15 May 2016

An evening of Lieder with James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook promised well, and did deliver occasionally, but sadly enthusiasm got the better of style more than once.

**111

**111

Cambridge

18 May 2016

Lucky Lieder dip: A celebration of Goethe

By Charlotte Valori

Dublin

Bright seraphim: a rewarding Samson in Dublin

By Andrew Larkin, 23 January 2016

A riveting account of Handel's Samson in Dublin, with Katherine Watson, James Gilchrist and Madeleine Shaw shining as soloists.

****1

****1

Dublin

25 Jan 2016

Bright seraphim: a rewarding Samson in Dublin

By Andrew Larkin

Gateshead

Late Mix British Songs: James Gilchrist in settings of Yeats and Housman

By Jane Shuttleworth, 06 June 2015

James Gilchrist and Royal Northern Sinfonia conjure up the hills of Yeats' Ireland and Housman's Shropshire in a Late Mix concert at Sage Gateshead.

****1

****1

Gateshead

07 Jun 2015

James Gilchrist in settings of Yeats and Housman

By Jane Shuttleworth

London

Not quite heroic: Handel's Hercules at the Barbican

By Charlotte Valori, 04 March 2015

The English Concert play beautifully, the chorus is in superb voice, but a disjointed cast of unconvincing singers mean Hercules never reaches heroic heights.

**111

**111

London

06 Mar 2015

Not quite heroic: Handel's Hercules

By Charlotte Valori

London

James Gilchrist and Florilegium explore Bach and his influences

By Jack Johnson, 03 November 2014

Florilegium and tenor James Gilchrist give intelligent and engaging performances of music by Bach and his contemporaries including some repertoire unfairly neglected in today's concert halls.

***11

***11

London

05 Nov 2014

James Gilchrist and Florilegium explore Bach

By Jack Johnson

London

A masterpiece of storytelling: Bach's St John Passion in Prom 12

By David Karlin, 26 July 2014

From the insistent, driving opening to the sublime transcendence of the closing chorale, Norrington, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and James Gilchrist give us a St John Passion to remember.

****1

****1

London

27 Jul 2014

Masterpiece of Storytelling: Bach's St John Passion

By David Karlin

Amsterdam

A superb St Matthew Passion from the Academy of Ancient Music

By Rosemary Carlton-Willis, 10 April 2014

Richard Egarr leads the Academy of Ancient Music and a stellar team of vocal soloists in an unapologetically lush and dramatic St Matthew Passion.

*****

*****

Amsterdam

13 Apr 2014

A superb St Matthew Passion from the Academy of Ancient Music

By Rosemary Carlton-Willis

Montreal

All-star cast dazzles in Handel's Solomon

By Richard Turp, 22 March 2014

Handel's Solomon is given a revelatory performance by an all-star cast of principles, La Chapelle de Québec and the Violons du Roy under the direction of Bernard Labadie.

****1

****1

Montreal

23 Mar 2014

All-star cast dazzles in Handel's Solomon

By Richard Turp

London

Proms Chamber Music 3: Britten up close

By Frances Wilson, 29 July 2013

Anyone craving an antidote to the Wagner marathon at the Proms could look no further than the third in the Proms Chamber Music series at Cadogan Hall.

****1

****1

London

30 Jul 2013

Proms Chamber Music 3: Britten up close

By Frances Wilson

London

Dreaming of spring in winter (during summer): James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook's Winterreise

By Sam Wigglesworth, 26 July 2013

Shortly after a disguised Wotan stepped onto the stage in the third instalment of Barenboim’s Proms Ring, across London another of German music’s great wanderers put in an appearance. It may have been a warm July evening outside, but from the first notes of this compelling Winterreise from James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook the temperature in Wigmore Hall seemed to plummet well below zero.

****1

****1

London

05 Aug 2013

Dreaming of spring in winter (during summer): James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook's Winterreise

By Sam Wigglesworth

London

The St Matthew Passion with the AAM and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge

By Emily Owen, 29 January 2013

With such a star-studded line-up at a concert that had been sold out for weeks, this was always going to be an evening to remember. Bach’s St Matthew Passion is one of those iconic pieces that never gets old, and every time I hear the throbbing bass of the opening chorus, I still get a tingle of excitement.

****1

****1

London

01 Feb 2013

The St Matthew Passion with the AAM and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge

By Emily Owen

New York City

John Eliot Gardiner's Beethoven 9 still shocks at Carnegie Hall

By David Allen, 16 November 2012

As I walked to this concert by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir, I wondered what might have changed in Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Beethoven in the two decades since he first recorded these symphonies.

****1

****1

New York City

19 Nov 2012

John Eliot Gardiner's Beethoven 9 still shocks at Carnegie Hall

By David Allen

London

All’s Fair in Love and War: The Academy of Ancient Music at the Wigmore Hall

By David Fay, 26 April 2012

There are some musical compositions that have always been a bit of a gamble, for composers, performers and even listeners. They might be exceptionally difficult, require extraordinary forces, or show such originality as to be perpetually startling.

****1

****1

London

29 Apr 2012

All’s Fair in Love and War: The Academy of Ancient Music at the Wigmore Hall

By David Fay

London

The Bach Players give moving tribute to Gustav Leonhardt

By Nahoko Gotoh, 19 April 2012

Gustav Leonhardt, who died in January this year, was a great pioneer in the early music movement – as harpsichordist, organist, conductor and teacher – and he influenced all subsequent musicians in the field whether directly or indirectly. Nicolette Moonen, founder of the Bach Players, was one such musician who, while growing up in Amsterdam, took up the baroque violin inspired by his playing.

London

23 Apr 2012

The Bach Players give moving tribute to Gustav Leonhardt

By Nahoko Gotoh

Vienna

The Fairy Queen at the Theater an der Wien

By Zwölftöner, 01 March 2012

The ‘semi-opera’ was an English musical and spoken theatre hybrid which by the end of the 17th century had begun to scrape the bottom of Restoration drama’s literary barrel, and by the 18th had been rendered obsolete by efforts to introduce the English to formal opera from the continent.

****1

****1

Vienna

04 Mar 2012

The Fairy Queen at the Theater an der Wien

By Zwölftöner

Leeds

St Matthew Passion

By Laura Kate Wilson, 09 April 2011

Easter wouldn't be complete without a performance of the St Matthew Passion, Johann Sebastian Bach's epic and intense interpretation of the crucifixion.

Leeds

11 Apr 2011

St Matthew Passion

By Laura Kate Wilson

Oxford

Oxford Lieder Festival Celebrity Recital, 23rd October 2010

By Sebastian Scotney, 23 October 2010

The Holywell Music Room in Oxford, with its bright and reverberant sound, was purpose-built as a concert hall, and opened in 1748. To hear four experienced and top-class singers last night, all of whom were able to work the specifics of this unique and historic room, to sing to it and use it as their instrument, was sheer joy.

Oxford

25 Oct 2010

Oxford Lieder Festival Celebrity Recital, 23rd October 2010

By Sebastian Scotney

La Coruña

Magistral Creación con Richard Egarr dirigiendo al Coro y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia

By Pablo Sánchez Quinteiro, 04 March 2016

Una soberbia interpretación que hizo justicia a la utopía humanista del sexagenario Franz Joseph Haydn

****1

****1

La Coruña

09 Mar 2016

Magistral Creación con Richard Egarr dirigiendo al Coro y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia

By Pablo Sánchez Quinteiro