REVIEW: SCO Grieg Piano Concerto
Reading Time: 2 minutesMajestic - Lu created a sense of urgency throughout throughout, making it so that I couldn’t take my eyes off of the keys for fear of missing even the smallest of moments
Category Classical
REVIEW: Fever Dreams
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Manchester Collective's Fever concert was a captivating blend of bold programming, virtuosic performance, and rich emotional contrasts that left the audience spellbound.
REVIEW: Alcina
Reading Time: 3 minutesIn 1735, George Frideric Handel adapted a fanciful story from Ariosto’s Italian Renaissance epic, Orlando Furioso; the resulting opera, Alcina, is staged here by the Guildhall School in a playful and earnest exploration of a battle between true love and powerful enchantments.
REVIEW: La Traviata
Reading Time: 2 minutesLa Traviata (The Fallen Woman) is Verdi’s 1853 opera about Violetta, a beautiful courtesan, and Alfredo, her devoted admirer, who despite falling madly in love are pulled apart by family, circumstance and general tragedy, reuniting finally as Violetta succumbs to the consumption which shortens her tumultuous life.
REVIEW: The Rake’s Progress
Reading Time: 3 minutesStravinsky's The Rake’s Progress is not the typical story of a Rake; the plot was unexpectedly about a man, originally with low funds, in love, who learnt more and more about love throughout the opera.
REVIEW: Manon Lescaut
Reading Time: 2 minutesI think I can comfortably assume that the English Touring Opera’s production of Manson Lescaut at the Oxford Playhouse is vastly different from its first performances in Turin, 1893. Director and librettist Jude Christian’s fascinating biography of recent work had me on tenterhooks for the main event, and her revival of this Puccini classic did not fail to excite the senses and turn the classical world on its head.
FEATURE: Scottish Opera revives Sir David McVicar’s La Traviata this summer
Reading Time: 3 minutesSIR DAVID MCVICAR’S PRODUCTION OF LA TRAVIATA BY VERDI TOURS TO GLASGOW, INVERNESS, ABERDEEN AND EDINBURGH THIS SUMMER
REVIEW: James McVinnie & Tristan Perich: Infinity Gradient
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe organ that stands within the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre is turning 70-years-old this year. The new Resident Artist James McVinnie rang in this illustrious occasion with two performances in a day, both of which offered an old and a new perspective on this important instrument.
REVIEW: Opera North: Cavalleria Rusticana/Aleko
Reading Time: 2 minutesOpera North's double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Aleko by Sergei Rachmaninoff is a captivating exploration of intertwined desires, dramatic contrasts, and thematic reflections. The juxtaposition of these two operas creates a rich tapestry of emotion and narrative, each enhancing the other's impact.
REVIEW: Marx in London!, Scottish Opera
Reading Time: 2 minutesAn action-packed and unconventional day in the life of Karl Marx and his family proves to be a feast for the eyes and ears Marx in London! is set on one day in 1871 – the 14th…