Haydn's Creation not quite a Big Bang at Holland Festival

By Nicolas Nguyen, 15 June 2016

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“a performance dotted with the surprising contrasts and contrasting tempi”

Reviewed at Dutch National Opera and Ballet, Amsterdam on 13 June 2016

Haydn, The Creation

René Jacobs, Conductor

Sunhae Im, Soprano

Thomas Walker, Tenor

Johannes Weisser, Bass-baritone

B'Rock Orchestra

Collegium Vocale Gent

Ghouls, ghosts and woodland wonder: B’Rock at the Concertgebouw

Clare Varney, 25th January

Dutch virtuoso Lucie Horsch plays Baroque recorder – just not how we usually expect it.

****1

René Jacobs confronts acoustical challenges in Dortmund Handel

Mengguang Huang, 12th March

René Jacobs and Sunhae Im tackle Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno in Dortmund’s acoustically dry Reinoldihaus. Despite challenges, Im’s radiant soprano and B’Rock Orchestra’s basso continuo group shine.

****1

Telemann's Orpheus in Amsterdam: a truly European opera

Nicolas Nguyen, 23rd October

In the hands of B'Rock Orchestra and conductor René Jacobs, Telemann's polyglot opera, once thought lost to time, becomes more than just a curiosity.

****1

Dido and Aeneas reworked as performance art

Cameron Kelsall, 24th April

Though ambitious and occasionally arresting, this revised and expanded take on the Purcell classic suffers from subtraction by addition.

**111

Barocktage opens with a murder: Scarlatti’s Il primo omicidio

Laura Servidei, 1st November

Romeo Castellucci’s inspiring and spiritual production lands in Berlin, with a superb cast of Baroque specialists and the B’Rock Orchestra under the baton of René Jacobs.

****1

Irreverence and ennui in De Keersmaeker's Six Brandenburg Concertos

Ivan Talijancic, 7th October

Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker's production of Six Brandenburg Concertos at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City disappoints

**111

More reviews...

Nicolas Nguyen

Nicolas is a French Amsterdammer, e-commerce professional and a bit of an opera buff. His experience in the area of music is that of a dilettante. His passion for the opera and vocal music comes from his love for both music and languages which are so perfectly combined in these art forms.