Delicious downtime with the Duchess: La descente d’Orphée aux enfers with the Early Opera Company

A concert performance of a Purcell semi-opera can never fully succeed, but compromise is worth it, if it enables us to hear a significant part of a major composer's output.

Anna Devin's Cleopatra moved with complete conviction for scheming minx to mature woman in love.

Channelling Conchita Wurst in its starring role, the Early Opera Company's production of this rare Rameau opera is bursting with laughs and memorable performances from a strong young cast. 

Under the title “Monteverdi Ballets”, Spitalfields Music Summer Festival presented a joint collaboration between the Early Opera Company and Avant Garde Dance. The challenge was to merge music and dance coming from two different artistic projects into a single unified product.

The decision to appoint the Early Opera Company and Scanner as this year’s associate artists says much about Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, an eclectic cornucopia of classical and non-classical music concerts by professional and amateur artists, bespoke tours, and family activities.

It is no surprise that in this Olympic year, various cultural goings-on have taken on, or alluded to, a sporting theme. This year's Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music made no exception, taking as its theme the ethos of the Olympic Games – Contests, Competitions and the Harmony of Nations – and cunningly applying it to incidents in musical history, as well as to music itself.