Michael Church – International Piano live roundup May 2024 Queen Elizabeth Hall: Marc-André Hamelin Feb 23 Wigmore Hall: Andras Schiff March 3; Steven Osborne March 12; Pavel Kolesnikov and...Read More
Giulio Cesare Glyndebourne Festival Opera, West Sussex When director David McVicar unveiled his production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne in 2005, the effect was seismic. How dare he turn...Read More
Aci, Galatea e Polyfemo/Brockes Passion London Handel Festival ★★★☆☆ When Handel’s oratorio Aci, Galatea e Polyfemo was premiered to celebrate a ducal wedding in Naples, it was accompanied...Read More
Alcina Glyndebourne Festival Opera, West Sussex ★★★★★ In Francesco Micheli’s new production of Handel’s Alcina, the lights go up on a little family whose dysfunctional demeanour sugg...Read More
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