Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cal McCrystal, Director; takis, designer;  Les Dennis, Sir Joseph Porter;  Elgan Llŷr Thomas, Ralph; Alexandra Oomens, Josephine; Hilary Summers, Buttercup; Chris Hopkins, conductor. It constantly amazes me that anyone in this age should want to go and see Gilbert and Sullivan. The satire for the most part is feeble, the send-up of opera now wearingContinue reading “HMS Pinafore – ENO, Coliseum, London: 6/12/21”

Suk – Fantastic Scherzo; Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No.4; Dukas -The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Janácek – Sinfonietta: Halle Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder, conductor and Boris Giltburg,  piano This was a really excellent concert. This was, from my perspective, because: The hall was very full, as it should have been for such a great concert The scherzoContinue reading “Suk/Rachmaninov/Dukas/Janacek: Halle, Elder, Giltberg – Bridgewater Hall”

Fantasia – Matteis; O Mirium – Ruta Vitkauskaite; Elsewhere – Finnis; Sarabande in D Minor – Bach; Tinge – Michael Gordon; Outshifts (3 Movements) – Emily Hall; Curved Form – Alex Groves; LAD – Julia Wolfe:  Rakhi Singh- Solo Violin Recital This was a somewhat different concert to the type I’d normally attend, but alsoContinue reading “Rakhi Singh – Firth Hall, University of Sheffield 18/11/21”

Howell, Lamia; R. Strauss, Four Last Songs; R. Strauss, Serenade; Mozart Symphony No.41, ‘Jupiter’: Halle Orchestra – Christian Reif, conductor; Natalya Romaniw, soprano This was interesting programming – both the Strauss Serenade and the Howell piece were written when their composers were precociously young – 17 and 20 respectively – and of course Mozart wasContinue reading “Howell, R.Strauss, Mozart: Halle – Reif/Romaniw, Bridgewater Hall, 11/11/21”

Director, John Cox; Designer, David Hockney; Conductor, Kerem Hasan; Anne Trulove, Nardus Williams; Tom Rakewell, Frederick Jones; Nick Shadow, Sam Carl; Mother Goose, Fiona Kimm; Baba The Turk, Rosie Aldridge My eyes almost popped out of my head a few months ago when I saw that Glyndebourne were touring their venerable production of the Rake’sContinue reading “Stravinsky – The Rake’s Progress: Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Milton Keynes, 10/11/21”

In between La Traviata at Covent Garden and The Rakes Progress in Milton Keynes I went to a surprisingly enjoyable lunchtime recital at St Olave’s church near Fenchurch St station. This was given by young Colombian coloratura soprano Meliza Metzger. accompanied by Michelle Chow. There were arias by Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti, and two ofContinue reading “Metzger/Chow – St Olave’s Church, Aldgate; 10/11/21”

Director, Richard Eyre, Designer, Bob Crowley; Conductor, Antonello Manacorda; Violetta, Lisette Oropesa; Alfredo, Liparit Avetisyan; Germont, Christian Gerhaher This was the first ‘live’ Traviata I’ve been to since the one at Covent Garden in the 70’s when Ileana Cotrubas was Violetta in a new production, though I did see a film of the current ROHCGContinue reading “Verdi – La Traviata; ROHCG, 9/11/21”

Britten, Ireland and others: settings of poetry by Thomas Hardy; Finzi: Song cycle: Before and After Summer: Roderick Williams, baritone, Christopher Glynn, piano; also for a few songs Gareth Brynmor John, part of the ‘Momentum: Our Future, Now’ initiative I wondered why there was such assiduous queuing going on for this event – people startedContinue reading “Britten, Ireland, Finzi and others: Roderick Williams, Crucible Studio, Sheffield 4/11/21”

Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Scherzo, Nocturne, Intermezzo, Wedding March; Ryan Wigglesworth Piano Concerto; Schumann Symphony No.2.  Ryan Wigglesworth conductor, Marc-André Hamelin piano, Halle Orchestra This was my first time in Sheffield City Hall for, I think, almost two years……I was struck again by its very dead acoustic; in the space after a loud orchestralContinue reading “Mendelssohn, Wigglesworth, Schumann: Sheffield City Hall, Wigglesworth, Hamelin, Halle – 3/11/21”

Obviously, 92 is a good and very advanced age to get to, and so, in a sense, it wasn’t very surprising to hear that Bernard Haitink had died, on Friday. But it is still sad to see another part of my teenage years of coming to classical music – and always thereafter –passing away, afterContinue reading “RIP, Bernard Haitink”