Powerful minimalism: Owen Wingrave launches Aldeburgh Festival

Queen of Spades began life as a sharp little ghost story by Alexander Pushkin, quite different in tone and spirit from the melodramatic adaptation by Modest Tchaikovsky, who wrote the libretto for his composer brother.

The Hallé Orchestra, led by Sir Mark Elder, followed their award-winning 2009 Götterdämmerung with a concert performance of Die Walküre over two nights, prefaced by Gerard McBurney’s new work, The Madness of an Extraordinary Plan. With an array of famed soloists, Elder masterminded a triumph, with the magnificent Hallé showing their quality on the concert stage.

Wagner's Die Walküre was split into two concert performances over two days, the first on one evening and the second on an afternoon and an evening. This review is for both. A spot picks out a man in the Bridgewater Hall’s front row, who steps up to stand by a table in front of the Hallé Orchestra, which is ready to begin. He puts on a braided coat to become Richard Wagner.

Donné pour la première fois à l'Opéra national de Paris, l'ouvrage du compositeur américain est un succès sur le plan musical, théâtral et chorégraphique.

Retour du bel canto à Liège avec une belle production de l'opéra de Gaetano Donizetti où triomphe, dans le rôle-titre, une Jessica Pratt impressionnante de maîtrise et d'engagement.

L'intermezzo de Gasparini tiré de la pièce de Molière déconcerte parfois mais le jeu en vaut la chandelle, car la mise en scène et l'interprétation musicale sont au rendez-vous.