Venus Unwrapped kicks off on an uneven playing field

By Stephen Pritchard, 11 January 2019

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“Strozzi... a creative voice that is individual, boldly erotic and emotionally charged”

Reviewed at Kings Place: Hall One, London on 10 January 2019

Strozzi, Dolcissimi respiri, Silenzio nocivo

Strozzi, Bella Madre, le tre grazie a Venere

Strozzi, Lagrime mie

Strozzi, Come può, non come vuol, Pace arrabbiata, Op.1

Strozzi, Che dolce udire, Canto di bella bocca

Monteverdi, Eighth Book of Madrigals (Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi) (excerpts)

Monteverdi, Il ballo delle ingrate

Mary Bevan, Soprano

Choir of the Age of Enlightenment

Christian Curnyn, Conductor

Miriam Allan, Soprano

Zoë Brookshaw, Soprano

Helen Charlston, Mezzo-soprano

Martha McLorinan, Mezzo-soprano

John Bowen, Tenor

Nicholas Mulroy, Tenor

Jonathan Brown, Bass

David Shipley, Bass

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Immersive OAE submerged at Southbank’s Multitudes festival

Mark Valencia, 22nd April

The road to immersion is paved with modish deflections as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performs 20th-century English string music.

**111

Mixed Mozart from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Dominic Lowe, 26th February

A Mozart's of symphonies – his last – under conductor Robin Ticciati is capped with a fine Jupiter, but is let down by the performances of its two predecessors.

***11

John Butt and the OAE celebrate Handel's Solomon

Roy Westbrook, 12th October

The Queen of Sheba is clearly in a hurry in this account of Handel's oratorio at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

*****

Enescu Festival immersion: Bach on the street, Klimt in the forest

Peter Quantrill, 11th September

At the George Enescu International Festival, a pair of new shows crossing genres and reinventing the classics, with mostly enlightening results.

****1

Brandstrup Breaking Bach with the OAE at EIF

Kathy Elgin, 20th August

Kim Brandstrup choreographs Bach favourites based on hip hop and street dance. Lie back on the bean bags at Usher Hall and enjoy...

****1

A strong new Figaro opens at Glyndebourne

Dominic Lowe, 29th June

Mariame Clément is a popular director at Glyndebourne, and her new production of Figaro shows her trademark approach to hardhitting comedy.

****1

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Stephen Pritchard

Stephen Pritchard began singing as a treble at the age of eight and progressed to become a tenor in Portsmouth Cathedral Choir, the Gibbons Consort and now the English Chamber Choir. Writing about music has been at the core of his 40-year career in journalism, chiefly at the Observer. He has been known to play a pretty mean jazz double bass.