The English Concert charms with exquisite performance of Serse

Mary Bevan and William Dazeley

Emily D'Angelo and The English Concert

Harry Bicket and The English Concert in Carnegie Hall

Lucy Crowe and The English Concert

By Edward Sava-Segal, 09 May 2022

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“Lucy Crowe... exquisite, with clean attack, skilled articulation and beautifully shaped phrasing”

Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York City on 8 May 2022

Handel, Serse (Xerxes) (concert performance)

Harry Bicket, Conductor

The English Concert

Emily D'Angelo, Serse

Lucy Crowe, Romilda

Mary Bevan, Atalanta

Paula Murrihy, Arsamene

Daniela Mack, Amastre

Neal Davies, Ariodate

William Dazeley, Elviro

Werther oozes quiet despair in new Canadian Opera Company staging

John Gilks, 7th May

Excellent performances cannot turn a conventional production of Massenet’s Werther into a dramatic experience for the 21st century.

***11

Rossini's Cenerentola proves great fun in Adelaide

Sandra Bowdler, 7th May

Neil Armfield's production for State Opera South Australia combines a sparkling night of entertainment with first class musical values.

****1

Peter Grimes drops anchor again at The Royal Opera

Christopher Woodley, 5th May

Allan Clayton and Sir Bryn Terfel lead a strong cast in a revival of Deborah Warner's dark staging of Britten's signature work at Covent Garden.

****1

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

Mengguang Huang, 3rd May

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

Deep into the American psyche: Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men

Hilary Stroh, 1st May

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.

****1

Two funerals and a bedding at the Linbury Theatre

Eleanor Knight, 1st May

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.

****1

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Edward Sava-Segal

Edward has been living in New York for the last 25 years, one of the reasons being the extraordinarily rich cultural life in this city. He has studied piano and classical music in his early years. He switched later on to computer science and data architecture but he kept an unwavering interest in following the classical music phenomenon here in New York and in his travels. Edward occasionally reviews fine arts events for the most prestigious literary magazine in Romania, his home country.

The English Concert charms with exquisite performance of Handel’s Serse at Carnegie Hall