SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, BROADCASTS, AND THEATRE
‘Pay it forward’ – free concert tickets at St John’s Smith Square for NHS staff
Inspired by the ‘clap for our carers’ initiative and with a desire to look ahead to life after lockdown, St John’s has launched a ‘pay it forward’ campaign with a difference. Supporters are invited to give to the campaign to fund free concert tickets for NHS staff.
English Touring Opera’s St John Passion
ETO are extending the broadcast period of Bach’s St John Passion until 10 May,
following an overwhelming response
On Easter Sunday English Touring Opera broadcast a performance of Bach’s St John Passion which premiered in London on 5 March 2020 and was due to tour nationally.
Germany Mahler: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle. Recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie, 20.6.2018.
United Kingdom Chopin, Ravel, Prokofiev: Giuseppe Guarrera (piano). Wigmore Hall, London, 3.3.2020. (MBr)
The Met’s 2020–21 Live in HD season will feature
ten live transmissions and two special encore presentations.
For more about The Met in cinemas CLICK HERE.
Update: the Metropolitan Opera will not resume performances until January 2021 at the earliest.
Late in 2019 Sardinian tenor Piero Pretti impressed many with his Met debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. Bachtrack said ‘He has a fine lyric Italianate sound with plenty of squillo and dead centre pitch. He strikes one as a very musical singer; he clearly knew the arc of his phrases and the entire role. Pinkerton is a hard part in which to impress and it will be interesting to hear him as other, more sympathetic leads.’
Ukrainian dramatic soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska had early success as a principal soloist with the Ukraine National Opera, as well as, singing at St. Peterburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre. Important debuts followed in Berlin as Tosca (2010), at Covent Garden she sang Aida (2011) and in this same role she first appeared at the Met in 2012. She sang Abigaille opposite Plácido Domingo in Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013 (Jim Pritchard described her voice as having ‘a great range of dynamics and colour but also the capability to sing a line softly when required’) and 2016. Liudmyla Monastyrska returns to Covent Garden as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana in a production broadcast to cinemas on 21 April. Before that she makes an eagerly awaited return to La Scala in Milan as Leonora in Il trovatore in Alvis Hermanis’s production and conducted by Nicola Luisotti. In her answers to some questions from Seen and Heard International Liudmyla Monastyrska gives an insight into her background, training and the roles she sings.
