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ROMA ÆTERNA
In 2021 Cecilia Bartoli and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival (21 – 24 May 2021) pay homage to Rome, the eternal city and her hometown. Rome has long inspired poets, composers, film-makers and painters as a metropolis of many faces: for 150 years Rome has been the capital of modern Italy and has retained its contradictory identities, of proud splendour on the one hand and decadence and decay on the other.
For more information and how to get tickets click here.
Beethoven and the Music of our times
The Musikfest Berlin takes place from 25 August to 23 September and is organized by the Berliner Festspiele in cooperation with the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation. The new festival programme can be viewed online if you click here.
‘Musikfest Berlin digital‘ is a joint initiative of Berliner Festspiele’s Musikfest Berlin and the Berliner Philharmoniker‘s Digital Concert Hall. To mark the occasion of the 2020 festival edition, 18 guest performances out of a total of 33 events scheduled to take place from August 25 to September 23 as part of the Musikfest Berlin in the the Philharmonie’s large concert hall will be streamed live in the Digital Concert Hall or broadcast with a time delay. They will then be available on the Berliner Festspiele’s streaming platform at ‘Musikfest Berlin on Demand‘ for a further 72 hours.
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TO PERFORM CENTENARY CONCERT IN WAREHOUSE
Saturday 5 September, 7pm
Streamed on the CBSO’s YouTube and Facebook channels
#cbso100
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has today announced that it will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first ever concert with a landmark performance featuring the full orchestra and filmed at a production warehouse in Birmingham.
The varied programme will be conducted by former Music Director Sir Simon Rattle, who is handed the baton for this special event by the orchestra’s current Music Director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, while she is on maternity leave. They are joined by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and sitar player Roopa Panesar, and the performance will be presented by Birmingham-born actor Adrian Lester.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JOHN GILHOOLY CONFIRMS 100 CONCERTS FOR NEWLY REVISED WIGMORE PROGRAMME FROM 13 SEPTEMBER – 21 DECEMBER
World-class music returns to the heights of the Swiss Alps and beyond Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy’s Pop-up Festival 2020: A winning mix of classical music stars and gems from Beethoven’s beloved repertoire • Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy’s Pop-up Festival 2020 will be broadcast live from various venues in Switzerland’s idyllic Saanenland throughout August … Read more
HGO brings back live opera performances to London
For Mark Berry’s review click here
HGO (formerly Hampstead Garden Opera) is dedicated to supporting singers at the start of their careers – they will lead the return of live opera to London. HGO’s staged open-air production with orchestra of Gustav Holst’s one-act Sāvitri will play at Lauderdale House, Highgate, on 13-22 August.
Seen and Heard International hopes for the happiest of outcomes for all those who are ill due to the current coronavirus pandemic. We share the optimism of those experts who hope that all those in otherwise good health will be able to resist its worst effects.
With the worldwide restrictions on travel and gatherings of significant numbers the world of classical music and many other entertainment events are currently subjected to a wave of changes, postponements, or cancellations, and it is unlikely normal recreational life will be resumed in the foreseeable future.
Seen and Heard International will continue to post reviews of concerts, operas, dance, theatre, and broadcasts for a long as we can, but bear with us if our content is not refreshed as often as readers have become used to over recent years.
We are not a listings site so if you are checking for news of whether performances have been postponed, cancelled, or might be restarting, please go direct to the websites of the venues concerned.
The Grange Festival presents Precipice, an outdoor promenade performance (21-23 August 2020) ‘The Grange Festival, under the genial direction of the former countertenor Michael Chance, has come of age, a signal achievement in only three years.’ The Sunday Times, June 2019 On 21, 22 and 23 August 2020, The Grange Festival will present Precipice, an outdoor immersive promenade … Read more