Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Jonathan Lemalu

Peter Konwitschny's production of La traviata has its flaws, but in an age of protracted media there is much to be said for his taut production of Verdi's most famous tragedy.

***11

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***11

London

23 Oct 2023

Curtain rises on ENO’s Traviata revival

By Dominic Lowe

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London

Cummings and the AAM bring the house down with Samson at the BBC Proms

By Nick Boston, 23 August 2023

Majestic performances all round in Handel's oratorio, with a strong solo team led by Allan Clayton as Samson, and a convincingly well-drilled performance from the Philharmonia Chorus.

****1

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****1

London

23 Aug 2023

Cummings and the AAM bring the house down with Samson at the Proms

By Nick Boston

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Birmingham

WNO’s abstract Magic Flute proves more contemporary than cohesive

By Robert Gainer, 03 May 2023

WNO delivers a well-performed production of Mozart’s Magic Flute with some fresh ideas, but other which dilute it.

***11

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***11

Birmingham

03 May 2023

WNO’s abstract Magic Flute proves more contemporary than cohesive

By Robert Gainer

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London

Devilishly good: Gardner conducts The Damnation of Faust at the Royal Festival Hall

By Dominic Lowe, 04 February 2023

A poisoned rat, sugary girls and just the small matter of a man's soul. Berlioz's légende dramatique deals minor to the major and in the hands of Edward Gardner and a superb cast, the work truly comes to life and brings the composer's unique flair to the fore.

*****

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*****

London

04 Feb 2023

Devilishly good: Gardner conducts The Damnation of Faust

By Dominic Lowe

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Sydney

Back from the brink: two sopranos rescue Florestan in Sydney Symphony Fidelio

By Jeremy Eccles, 24 November 2022

Simone Young is made of stern stuff. With 30 hours to go before the concert performance, her Leonore falls ill. Can the show go on?

****1

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****1

Sydney

24 Nov 2022

Back from the brink: two sopranos rescue Florestan in Sydney

By Jeremy Eccles

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Alresford

Kilts in the library: Macbeth opens The Grange Festival

By Dominic Lowe, 09 June 2022

Murder in the library? No, this isn't a re-run of Poirot, but a new production of Verdi's Macbeth to open The Grange Festival's 2022 season.

***11

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***11

Alresford

09 Jun 2022

Kilts in the library: Macbeth opens The Grange Festival

By Dominic Lowe

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Glasgow

Theatre meets opera in delightful Midsummer Night’s Dream at Scottish Opera

By David Smythe, 22 February 2022

Dominic Hill brings a touch of the theatre to a finely sung new production of Britten's opera, with Stuart Stratford conducting a driven ensemble.

*****

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*****

Glasgow

22 Feb 2022

A delightful Midsummer Night’s Dream at Scottish Opera

By David Smythe

Glyndebourne

Strong cast lifts Wake-Walker's constrained staging in Glyndebourne Tour's Fidelio

By Nick Boston, 16 October 2021

A vast panopticon cages strong musical performances in Wake-Walker's Fidelio at Glyndebourne, with Dorothea Herbert and Adam Smith standing out vocally and emotionally as Leonore and Florestan.

***11

***11

Glyndebourne

16 Oct 2021

Strong cast lifts constrained staging in Glyndebourne's Fidelio

By Nick Boston

Vienna

A Clemenza to pardon at Theater an der Wien

By Chanda VanderHart, 17 October 2019

Sam Brown's sparse production leaves nothing to focus on but the individual protagonists on stage.

***11

***11

Vienna

17 Oct 2019

A Clemenza to pardon at Theater an der Wien

By Chanda VanderHart

London

“Ecco un artista!”: melodrama aplenty in ROH Tosca revival

By Mark Pullinger, 27 May 2019

Red-blooded performances from the three principals at Covent Garden, even if there are vocal misfires along the way.

***11

***11

London

27 May 2019

“Ecco un artista!”: melodrama aplenty in ROH Tosca revival

By Mark Pullinger

London

Flogging a dead horse: a new Salome at English National Opera

By Dominic Lowe, 28 September 2018

ENO's new production of Salome which opens the season features some commendable music-making, but is let down by a flawed concept and dull staging.

**111

**111

London

28 Sep 2018

Flogging a dead horse: a new Salome at English National Opera

By Dominic Lowe

Alresford

Harem capers: Copley directs a knockabout Seraglio at Grange Festival

By Mark Pullinger, 24 June 2018

Directing Entführung at the grand old age of 85, John Copley gives us plenty of fun in the Pasha's palace.

***11

***11

Alresford

24 Jun 2018

A knockabout Seraglio at Grange Festival

By Mark Pullinger

Dublin

Fun and frolics at Irish National Opera's Figaro

By Andrew Larkin, 17 April 2018

A wonderful ful-filled caper by the Irish National Opera of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Erraught as Susanna and Miskelly as Cherubino really impressing.

****1

****1

Dublin

17 Apr 2018

Fun and frolics at Irish National Opera's Figaro

By Andrew Larkin

London

Hot ice and strange snow: an unseasonal return for Carsen’s bed-hopping Dream

By Mark Pullinger, 01 March 2018

In Siberian conditions more akin to The Winter's Tale, a revival of Robert Carsen's season setting of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream offered a warm glow at the Coliseum.

****1

****1

London

01 Mar 2018

Hot ice and strange snow

By Mark Pullinger

London

Devilishly good fun at OperaGlass Works' The Rake's Progress

By Benjamin Poore, 17 November 2017

A compelling and energetic debut production from a new opera company in the raddled surroundings of Wilton's Music Hall.

****1

****1

London

17 Nov 2017

Devilishly good fun: The Rake's Progress

By Benjamin Poore

Seattle

Seattle begins New Year with Beethoven's Ninth

By Erica Miner, 07 January 2017

To open the new year, Seattle Symphony music director Ludovic Morlot chose a standard work, Beethoven’s Ninth, prefaced with an unusual one by French composer Olivier Messaien.

***11

***11

Seattle

07 Jan 2017

Seattle begins New Year with Beethoven's Ninth

By Erica Miner

Seattle

Rough Pearl: Seattle Opera’s Pearl Fishers nearly hits the mark

By Kevin W Ng, 17 October 2015

Uneven musical values mar Seattle Opera's colourful production of Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles.

***11

***11

Seattle

17 Oct 2015

Rough Pearl: Seattle Opera’s Pearl Fishers nearly hits the mark

By Kevin W Ng

London

That sinking feeling: ENO’s Pirates of Penzance scuppered at the Coliseum

By Mark Pullinger, 09 May 2015

As director of the film Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh seemed like a natural choice to turn his hand to The Pirates of Penzance at English National Opera. Sadly, this proved not to be the case.

**111

**111

London

09 May 2015

That sinking feeling: ENO’s Pirates of Penzance

By Mark Pullinger

London

Iain Paterson and Edward Gardner lead a top quality rendering of Wagner's Meistersinger for ENO

By David Karlin, 07 February 2015

With ENO having been in the news for all the wrong reasons last week, it needed Richard Jones' The Mastersingers of Nuremberg to be a great production. Lit up by a towering performance by Iain Paterson, it is.

*****

*****

London

07 Feb 2015

A top quality rendering of Wagner's Meistersinger

By David Karlin

Auckland

A fresh and joyous account of The Creation from the New Zealand SO

By Simon Holden, 30 August 2014

A rendition of The Creation in Auckland that had one marvelling anew at Haydn’s ingenuity and spirit.

****1

****1

Auckland

30 Aug 2014

A fresh and joyous Creation

By Simon Holden

Edinburgh

Mahler's epic Eighth a thrilling finale to RSNO's season

By David Smythe, 30 May 2014

Any performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony is a special event. This one was a thrilling end to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra's season.

****1

****1

Edinburgh

30 May 2014

Mahler's epic Eighth a thrilling finale to RSNO's season

By David Smythe

London

Handel's Belshazzar at the Barbican with Les Arts Florissants

By Julia Savage, 13 December 2012

Handel’s Belshazzar was the oratorio of choice for renowned music group Les Arts Florissants at the Barbican last week. The group was famously set up in France in 1979 by the American-born William Christie, eventually becoming an international household name for its critically acclaimed performances and recordings of Baroque operas on period instruments.

***11

***11

London

13 Dec 2012

Handel's Belshazzar at the Barbican with Les Arts Florissants

By Julia Savage

San Francisco

Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick triumphs in San Francisco

By Jeffery S. McMillan, 10 October 2012

Though reports of the work’s importance and dramatic power have attended it since its 2010 premiere in Dallas, I doubt many in the audience of the War Memorial Opera House on Wednesday night were prepared for the impact of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick.

*****

*****

San Francisco

10 Oct 2012

Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick triumphs in San Francisco

By Jeffery S. McMillan

London

Prom 23: A varied menu of early 20th-century English music

By Jane Shuttleworth, 31 July 2012

Prom 23 served up a menu of English music from the first half of the 20 century in all its variety, with impressionism by Delius, the lush strings of Vaughan Williams, heroic brass from Ireland, and jazzy, sophisticated excitement from Walton.The programme opened with a warmly affectionate performance of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.

***11

***11

London

31 Jul 2012

Prom 23: A varied menu of early 20th-century English music

By Jane Shuttleworth

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Barcelona

La música, el sado y la memoria: reflexión en torno a la Tosca de Rafael R. Villalobos

By Maria Sánchez, 04 January 2023

Indignación en la mayor parte del público ante el proyecto de Rafael R. Villalobos, apostando por una dimensión política de la obra, en diferentes niveles y lecturas en torno al clásico.

***11

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***11

Barcelona

04 Jan 2023

La música, el sado y la memoria: Tosca en el Liceu

By Maria Sánchez

Vienna

Drunter und drüber, und trotzdem überdrüber: King Arthur am Theater an der Wien

By Snapdragon, 24 January 2019

Atmosphärische und kaleidoskopisch bunte Bilder machen King Arthur zu einem beeindruckenden Gesamtkunstwerk.

*****

*****

Vienna

24 Jan 2019

Drunter und (über)drüber: King Arthur am Theater an der Wien

By Snapdragon

Vienna

Keith Warners Don Giovanni im Theater an der Wien: Immer wieder gern

By Snapdragon, 14 December 2016

Wahrscheinlich eine der besten Don Giovanni-Inszenierungen aller Zeiten; mit Sicherheit die lustigste.

****1

****1

Vienna

14 Dec 2016

Keith Warners Don Giovanni: Immer wieder gern

By Snapdragon