Oh happy, happy me. I’m sitting in a buzzy Clerkenwell outpost by the name of Fidelio Orchestra Café, listening to my first round of classical music since the L-word rocked into town and threw café owners and musicians alike into creative and financial disarray. So, it particularly warms the heart (and ears) to see Fidelio…
Opera & Classical Music
London Opera and Classical Music reviews: Get the London lowdown on all the latest opera and classical music.
NW Live at the Bloomsbury Festival 2020
Last updated on October 28th, 2020 at 10:01 amWith further restrictions looming in the London air like a thick Dickensian fog, I spent last week dashing around town trying to tick as many cultural boxes as possible. On Friday, I managed to catch up with some music – and not just any ordinary music. This…
Oxford Lieder 2020 Review: Song in the Age of Corona
Covid-19 and its pesky restrictions threw a spanner in the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020 works this year, but it didn’t dampen the spirits or the music. The UK’s biggest song festival went online instead, streaming over 40 magnificent recital concerts and events, most of them live and all set in historical surroundings across the city….
Vache Baroque Festival: Dido and Aeneas review
What a cracking start to the shiny new Vache Baroque Festival which kicked off with an enchanting production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. And a double dose of September showers did nothing to dampen the audience’s spirits. We were more than delighted to tuck into the one-hour Baroque fancy in the grounds of this…
Waterperry Opera Festival 2020 – Review: Così fan tutte and Ariel
Last updated on August 17th, 2020 at 09:38 amThis week was one of firsts: I was introduced to the delightful Waterperry Opera Festival; picnicked in a socially-distanced lawn pod listening to Mozart’s Così fan tutte; sampled some of British composer Jonathan Dove’s genius amongst the butterflies and the bumblebees; and got lost in Waterperry Gardens,…
A Tour of Handel’s London – Visit 16 Handel Locations
Last updated on June 4th, 2021 at 03:44 pmGeorge Frideric Handel was born in Germany, but he spent a whopping 47 years in London, arriving here when he was just 26. He went on to write some of the world’s most famous operas and oratorios in the capital and became the toast of London town….
Luisa Miller at the English National Opera
Last updated on February 20th, 2020 at 06:45 amI braced Storm Dennis’s ferocious embrace on Saturday night for a dose of operatic drama in the company of the English National Opera’s Luisa Miller. This is the ENO’s first staging of Verdi’s fifteenth opera and one which I have been longing to see for years. Written…
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground at the Royal Opera House
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground at the Royal Opera House is as mad as a box of frogs. The much-loved children’s tale of delicious nonsense has been condensed into a 55-minute rollercoaster of an opera, written by Irish composer Gerald Barry and directed and designed by Antony McDonald. Anything is possible during this topsy-turvy muchness of…
Northern Chords Ensemble at King’s Place
Last updated on May 1st, 2020 at 08:15 amThe Steinway piano was happily purring away on the King’s Place stage on Sunday night, with virtuoso Daniel Lebhardt on keys. He was in the musical company of his other Northern Chords Ensemble bedfellows, Benjamin Baker on violin and Jonathan Bloxham on cello. BBC New Generation Artist…
Oxford Lieder Festival – Magic, Myths and Mortals
Last updated on March 12th, 2021 at 05:32 pmIt’s that melodic time of year again, when Oxford goes into full musical throttle in celebration of classical music and poetry. For two weeks, the city falls under the spell of the Oxford Lieder Festival, which this year transports us to Tales of Beyond – Magic, Myths…