Instrument: Vocal Ensemble

A fine cast convinces in Dutch Reisopera's new Tosca, staged in a dystopian police state.

Julius Drake’s torrential postlude capped an evening in which he had been superb throughout.

Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (The Branded One) is an unsettling work given the storyline’s background of abduction and clandestine sexual abuse. Calixto Bieito, as expected, eschews ambiguity regarding what goes on behind the scenes, and casts even the titular cripple Alviano Salvago in a damning light.

Thomas Dausgaard, Seattle Symphony’s Music Director Designate, arrived in town to lead the orchestra and its chorus in an impassioned account of Kullervo, the rarely heard Sibelius epic.

Royal Northern Sinfonia’s performance of Sir James Macmillan’s St Luke Passion had moments of high drama, but one crucial element of the piece was mostly missing. 

A rare performance of Stockhausen’s Stimmung, a key work in the development of contemporary vocal music, proves it still has resonance 50 years on from its première.

The Spanish director offers a controversial angle but tones it down to focus on dark psychology rather than spectacle in his staging of Schrecker's hothouse opera.