Young and the Sydney Symphony perform a splendid Die Walküre

Simone Young and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Stuart Skelton (Siegmund) and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

The ride of the Valkyries

By Zoltán Szabó, 18 November 2024

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“Young’s baton sliced through the applause, hurling the orchestra into the Vorspiel of Act 2”

Reviewed at Sydney Opera House: Concert Hall, Sydney on 15 November 2024

Wagner, Die Walküre

Simone Young, Conductor

Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Stuart Skelton, Siegmund

Peter Rose, Hunding

Vida Miknevičiūtė, Sieglinde

Tommi Hakala, Wotan

Alexandra Ionis, Fricka, Roßweiße

Anja Kampe, Brünnhilde

Helena Dix, Helmwige

Madeleine Pierard, Gerhilde

Natalie Aroyan, Ortlinde

Deborah Humble, Waltraute

Margaret Plummer, Siegrune

Kristin Darragh, Grimgerde

Liane Keegan, Schwertleite

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The early flowering of opera: a fragrant L’Orfeo at Schwetzingen

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Markus Bothe’s Botticelli-inspired production fuses tableau vivant aesthetics with Jörg Halubek’s surgical musical precision, offering a peerless, vivid tribute to the fragrant dawn of opera.

****1

Boston Doodle Dandy: Boston Lyric Opera presents La Fille du régiment

Kevin Wells, 1st May

Very few singers can hold an audience in the palm of their hand the way Brenda Rae as Marie does in this rollicking frolic.

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Carlisle Floyd's operatic setting of John Steinbeck’s classic novella is given a new production in the composer's centenary year at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

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Two funerals and a bedding at the Linbury Theatre

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Tales of love and loss as operas by Elena Langer, Charlotte Bray and Elizabeth Maconchy form a varied triple bill in this showcase for The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists.

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The triumph of virtue: Rossini’s Cenerentola in Brisbane

Sandra Bowdler, 29th April

Margarita Gritskova leads a fine ensemble performance of Rossini’s most under-appreciated opera by Opera Queensland.

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Zoltán Szabó

Zoltán Szabó is a cellist and musicologist. Having migrated from his native Hungary to Australia in 1985, he worked with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney until 1991, when he became Principal Cello with Opera Australia. In 2017, he was awarded with a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD). Currently, he is teaching music history and musicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Simone Young and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform a splendid Die Walküre