Reviews

What did Alexander Scriabin have in common with Donald J. Trump? Small hands, that’s what. Scriabin’s 1897 piano concerto was an instant hit with similarly endowed artists, although it also won approval from Sergei Rachmaninov, whose mitts were mega-sized. Despite...

Writing of McDermott’s Satyagraha in 2010, one of my colleagues wrote, ‘There are so many amazing imagesin this production that it’s hard to take them all in at once’. Here, it’s more a case of the are so many diverse visual images that it’s hard to make them come...

Coliseum, London Phelim McDermott’s new production for ENO features some virtuoso turns and preserves the tragedy’s air of mystery, but at times lacks cohesion English National Opera’s new production of Aida is the work of Phelim McDermott, whose previous stagings for...

Romanian soprano Aurelia Florian sings Violetta in all ten performances (through October 17). She is young and pretty, her voice is strong and rich throughout all registers, and her high notes are splendid (she does not take the optional high E flat in the “Sempre...

Bellini’s 1831 opera “Norma,” which opened the Metropolitan Opera’s season on Monday, is rich in themes that resonate in today’s political and social climate. Brutal, boorish clashes of culture and religion drive the story. The title character, a high priestess of a...

This, and the striking opening of the first piece, Palestrina’s motet Laudate pueri, set me ruminating about nature of an ‘ensemble sound’, and although the following tangential digression might be a little indulgent, it is not irrelevant to my experience and review...

The Lyric Opera Orchestra and the Lyric Opera Chorus, under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis and Michael Black respectively, provided excellent accompaniment. Indeed, several of the selections showcased the talents of both groups as a significant part of this...

Today, singers and their pianists are often more willing also to explore repertory by composers who are much less well known. Also, a CD can carry much more music than the typical LP. Carolyn Sampson—an established light soprano—here offers an entire, well-stocked...

Royal Festival Hall, London The anti-Freudian Oedipus opera may not flawless, but this performance with the LPO was a superb and beautiful achievement The London Philharmonic opened its new season with a concert performance of Oedipe, George Enescu’s only opera, first...

Millennium Centre, Cardiff Welsh National Opera mark the centenary of the 1917 revolutions in this chilling, brilliantly designed production of Mussorgsky’s complex opera Welsh National Opera’s new season forms part of Russia 17, Wales’s arts-wide commemoration of the...