There are few composers who have had quite the influence on their fellow compatriots as Sibelius has had on his. Whether it is the effect of the music itself, or the architecture of the landscape ...

Happy “birth”- day to Wigmore Hall (inasmuch as bricks and mortar are birthed). On the hall’s actual 125th anniversary, it was Lise Davidsen and the equally astonishing collaborative pianist James ...

The Wigmore Hall’s 125th Anniversary Festival is shaping up well: in one day, the venue offered Jordi Savall at lunchtime and Asmik Grigorian in the evening, both (as far as I could see) all but sold ...

Those who attended the performances without any knowledge of the operetta (retitled The Grand Duchess) probably left hoping to have no further acquaintance. Crass, manic, forcedómany an antonym for ...

“The operas of Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) mark a significant contribution to twentieth-century music and theatre. Opera was Prokofiev’s preferred genre; not counting juvenile and unfinished works, ...

entertainment for any quiet evening at home. So, how about this: an opera ...

Music composed by Otto Nicolai (1810-1849). Libretto by Salomon Hermann von Mosenthal after the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. First performance: 9 March 1849 at Kˆnigliches Opernhaus, ...

The revival, now directed by Robin Tebbutt, opened at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Now, the first thing to say is that Jephtha is not strictly an opera. It was written for performance in ...

enthral her listeners and retains dedicated fans on several continents. Although Jean has been acclaimed for a significant number of other roles, ...

of Exodus 15 and The Book of Psalms.

become the most popular opera in the world’. He was right: 150 years on Carmen is probably the best-known, most oft-performed opera, ...

Composed originally for a Vienna premiere in 1864 the present version of Les FÈes du Rhin, or Die Rheinnixen, was published in the last few years as part of the critical edition of the complete works ...