Articles & Interviews

The master list of news, features and interviews

The Metropolitan Opera in 2022-23

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The Metropolitan Opera announces the most new productions in ten seasons, featuring the world-premiere staging of The Hours, the company premieres of Champion and Medea, and four more: Fedora, Lohengrin, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte.

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct The Hours, Lohengrin, Champion, and La bohème

The roster of artists includes Roberto Alagna, Piotr Beczała, Angel Blue, Javier Camarena, Lise Davidsen, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Ryan Speedo Green, Kelli O’Hara, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Sonya Yoncheva, and more

Debuting conductors include Manfred Honeck, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Jaap van Zweden

Ten operas will be transmitted live to cinemas across the globe as part of The Met: Live in HD series

FOR MORE ABOUT THE 2022-23 SEASON CLICK HERE

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Classical Vauxhall: Classical Done Differently at St Mark’s Kennington

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Classical Vauxhall – 10 to 13 February 2022  The third Classical Vauxhall Festival had already given their first concert (of five) at St Mark’s Kennington when I received information about their imaginative and appetising programmes. After the end of the festival they were able to let me have a recording of the concert of 10 … Read more

Peter Oundjian, new Principal Conductor of the Colorado Symphony, in conversation with Laurence Vittes

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On 15 February, the Colorado Symphony Association announced the appointment of Peter Oundjian as Principal Conductor. In addition to conducting six Classics performances each season, Oundjian, who served as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor from 2003 to 2006, will take a leading role in ‘reimagining’ the traditional symphonic model and positioning the Colorado Symphony as … Read more

R.I.P. BERNARD JACOBSON (1936-2022)

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Bernard Jacobsen (right) with Andrzej Panufnik

London-born Bernard Jacobsen was a long-time contributor to MusicWeb International (where a 2006 biography can be found by clicking here), as well as Seen and Heard International and we are deeply saddened by news of his passing. We send our condolesences to his wife Laura and their family in the hope they will remember all the happier times with Bernard during these sad days. 

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Ballet Icons 2022 celebrates Sergei Diaghilev’s 150th on 13 March at the London Coliseum

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ENSEMBLE PRODUCTIONS PRESENT BALLET ICONS GALA 2022 A superb evening of world class ballet – CELEBRATING 150th ANNIVERSARY OF SERGEI DIAGHILEV On Sunday 13 March 2022 at the LONDON COLISEUM at 7pm NOW CANCELLED The annual BALLET ICONS GALA, presented by Ensemble Productions, celebrates the 150th anniversary of Sergei Diaghilev, the legendary creator of the … Read more

Semyon Bychkov leads his Czech Philharmonic around Europe on a Spring tour ending at the Barbican

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Czech Philharmonic conducted by Semyon Bychkov (Chief Conductor & Music Director) at the Batbican Centre, London, on 15 and 16 March 2022 

Semyon Bychkov (c) Umberto Nicoletti

On 15 and 16 March, the Czech Philharmonic return to London with their Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov for the first time since 2019. Forming the centrepiece of their two evenings at the Barbican Centre is Smetana’s iconic Má vlast (My Homeland), a cycle of six symphonic poems which has become inextricably linked with both the history of the Czech Philharmonic and that of the Czech Republic. Also being performed at the Barbican are Dvořak’s Symphony No.8, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Yuja Wang, Czech Philharmonic 2021-22 Artist-in-Residence.

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The Glyndebourne Tour returns this autumn with a new production of La bohème

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The Glyndebourne Tour returns this autumn with performances at Glyndebourne, Milton Keynes, Canterbury, Norwich and Liverpool, accompanied by an exciting new programme of community activity.

As in 2021, Glyndebourne will take two world-class opera productions and one concert on the road – this year, Puccini’s La bohème and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Mozart’s Requiem (the latter following the success of last autumn’s Handel’s Messiah concert).

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