Briefly… Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Wimbledon Theatre & Tour
The sound levels seemed to be in synch with the pine trees backdrop and went up and down like a whore’s knickers. In this the official press night for a lengthy stage tour of the much-loved MGM…
A Conversation With VASILY PETRENKO: His Shostakovich symphony cycle
As Vasily Petrenko’s much-lauded Shostakovich symphony cycle moves closer to completion we reach the renegade Fourth Symphony written in 1935 and driven underground by Stalin and his establishment naysayers. This astonishing piece – which remained unperformed for…
Briefly… Die Fledermaus, English National Opera
Eisenstein’s pocket watch (every seducer needs one) looms large and his wife Rosalinde is not having a good night. Recurring nightmares accost her and, wouldn’t you know, bats figure in every one. Is Christopher Alden really going all…
Briefly… Peter Grimes, London Philharmonic, Jurowski, Royal Festival Hall (Review)
I think we can now say with absolute certainty that Stuart Skelton is the pre-eminent Peter Grimes of the present time. Just as Peter Pears originated the role for a whole generation and Jon Vickers redefined it…
Fidelio, English National Opera (Review)
The first words we hear don’t belong to Fidelio at all, the first music does, but not at all where you expect to find it. If you’ve read your programme (and who does before the show begins?)…
A Conversation With MARY MILLER & ANDREW LITTON: Bergen Opera
In the listening room of Grieg Hall, Bergen – a concert hall sometimes masquerading as a theatre and vice versa – Edward Seckerson talks to Mary Miller, Director of Bergen National Opera, and Andrew Litton, Music Director…
Elektra, Royal Opera House (Review)
Applause for the conductor – even if it is Andris Nelsons – is just about the last thing we need to hear when Richard Strauss is about to fling down the brutal chords which spell out the…
A Conversation With YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the most hotly pursued conductors on the planet right now. To his orchestral “families” in Rotterdam, Montreal, and London he has now added the illustrious Philadelphia Orchestra, once dubbed by Rachmaninov “the…
London Symphony Orchestra, Uchida, Ticciati, Barbican Hall (Review)
From Mozart’s pen to Mitsuko Uchida’s fingers and one last time for Sir Colin Davis – Mozart’s wistful Rondo in A minor. If ever music crossed thresholds this not so little Rondo with its lilting Siciliana-like melody…
The Last Night of the Proms, Royal Albert Hall (Review)
As it came to pass, Marin Alsop’s nationality was rather more of a factor than her gender on this historic Last Night of the Proms – but her deft put-down of remarks made only the week before…
