Philharmonia Orchestra, Maazel, Royal Festival Hall
Lorin Maazel may well have set some kind of record here for two of the most protracted and incoherent performances in Mahler history. Even before solo violas had finished tracing out the searching opening line of the…
Weinberg “The Passenger”, English National Opera
The railway tracks to Auschwitz hit the buffers just above the orchestra pit – the fount of so much heavenly music. Now there’s an irony. There’s a front cloth suggesting Auschwitz sacking and once that has risen,…
Gounod “Faust”, Royal Opera House
“This is my domain”, says Méphistophéles, and suddenly we his audience are behind the footlights looking into an auditorium just like ours. It isn’t a particular original idea casting the devil as master of ceremonies and purveyor…
Puccini “Il Trittico”, Royal Opera House
The accepted wisdom on Puccini’s trio of one-acters, Il Trittico, is that Gianni Schicchi is the masterpiece, Suor Angelica of very particular and questionable taste, with Il Tabarro, all shadow and melodrama, bringing up the rear. But…
Prom 74: The Last Night
There were funeral pyres to light, mountains to climb, and, of course, there was Jerusalem to build. All in a Last Night’s work. Another record-breaking season – an astonishing 94% of capacity – thundered to a close…
Proms 63 & 64: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer, Royal Albert Hall
The surprises came thick and fast – but variants on a theme of Lady Gaga in the style of Bach was not one we might have anticipated. It came courtesy of the young Croatian pianist Dejan Lazic…
A Conversation With JOHN WILSON
John Wilson and the orchestra which bears his name created a absolute sensation at the 2009 Proms with their celebration of 75 years of MGM musicals. 3.5 million people watched the relay live; countless more all over…
A Conversation With JOSHUA BELL
It’s not every day that a superstar of the violin chooses to trade places with an orchestral concert master but Joshua Bell has been doing just that with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields for…
A Conversation With ANDREW LITTON: Bergen Philharmonic
Andrew Litton was weaned on music: his parents were passionate music lovers, his godfather, Richard Horowitz, was and still is principal timpanist at the Met. He grew up watching the great and good of opera from the…
A Conversation With KERRY ELLIS
Kerry Ellis amassed a legion of adoring fans when she went “green” playing Elphaba in Stephen Schwartz’ smash-hit musical both in London and on Broadway. But her preeminence as a musical-theatre-diva-cum-rock-chick was secured earlier still when Brian…
