Jamie Barton: top ten Verdi mezzos

Ahead of an appearance at London’s Cadogan Hall, the Swedish mezzo-soprano talks about her love for French and German song, and combining intimate performances with opera singing on a much larger scale.

Awarded with the 2025 Antonín Dvořák Award together with her husband Sir Simon Rattle, Magdalena Kožená talks about the richness of Czech music, language barriers, and the importance of reading programme notes.

From fulfilling funerary functions, to eulogising friends and fellow artists, or lamenting the waste of war: here are some of the finest examples of music written in mourning.

The Austrian mezzo-soprano talks about her love of singing, her time as an ensemble member at the Wiener Staatsoper and exploring the boundaries of trouser roles.

Director of Opera, Oliver Mears, was filmed trying to remove a Palestine flag raised by a performer during the final curtain call for Il trovatore. RBO has since said their “goal is to act with integrity and compassion.”

Lord Byron’s influence on musicians was immense – with Rossini, Verdi, Berlioz, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Schoenberg among the many composers to create works inspired by his writings.