I Solomon, Great Hall, Bart’s Hospital Quatuor pour la fin du temps, St Paul’s Cathedral New Dark Age, Royal Opera House, London With the whole world of classical music engaged in streaming, l...Read More
Musicians are at a precipice – but does the government care? Given a fanatical Brexiteer cabinet fixated on impossible dreams, and some stunningly inadequate ministers in charge of important a...Read More
Rinaldo, Glyndebourne It’s a great pity that this year’s Glyndebourne offering at the Proms should be its new Magic Flute, because that uneven show’s raison d’etre is sight gag...Read More
Radamisto, Hackney Empire Coming fresh from a clunkily over-heated Ring at Covent Garden, and a deranged travesty of Salome at the Coliseum, it’s sweet relief to encounter English Touring Opera’s ...Read More
Giulio Cesare, Glyndebourne Festival Opera With its plum roles for the castrato Senesino and the soprano Francesca Cuzzoni, Handel’s Giulio Cesare enjoyed huge success when it opened in 1724; no oth...Read More
Agrippina, Grange Festival, Hampshire One by one the country house opera companies are getting into gear. Now it’s the Grange Festival – not to be confused with Grange Park Opera, of whose neo-cla...Read More
Semele, Royal Festival Hall, 18.10.17 I’ve seen quite a few stage productions of Handel’s Semele, but I can’t remember one as dramatic as the one I’ve just heard by the Orchestra of the Age of...Read More
Mitridate, re di Ponto, Royal Opera house, London Nobody ever talks about Graham Vick’s 26-year-old production of Mitridate, re di Ponto – it seemed to have sunk without trace – but Coven...Read More