The Royal Opera’s Il trovatore Rewards Listening to rather than Watching

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Verdi, Il trovatore: Soloists, chorus and Royal Opera House Orchestra / Richard Farnes (conductor). Directed for the screen by Bridget Caldwell and broadcast from the Royal Opera House to Odeon Cinema, Covent Garden, London. 31.1.2017. (JPr)

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Anita Rachvelishvili (Azucena) and Gregory Kunde (Manrico) (c) Catherine Ashmore

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Domingo and Levine Reunited for Nabucco at the Met

United StatesUnited States Verdi, Nabucco: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera / James Levine (conductor). Broadcast live to the Odeon Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex, from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, 7.1.2017. (JPr)

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Liudmyla Monastyrska (Abigaille) and Plácido Domingo (Nabucco)
(c) Metropolitan Opera/Marty Sohl

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THE SOPRANO ELISABETH MEISTER: FIGHTING BACK FROM WHAT LIFE THROWS AT YOU AND INSPIRING OTHERS

Fighting Back From What Life Throws At You And Inspiring Others: Jim Pritchard Interviews The Soprano Elisabeth Meister

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Elisabeth Meister

One of the highlights of the recent concert performance of Die Walküre for the Saffron Opera Group was Elisabeth Meister’s wonderful Sieglinde. Peter Reed in Opera magazine described how ‘gathering depth and brilliance’ she ‘built towards an orchestra-surfing “O hehrstes Wunder!” of pulverizing grandeur’. On this site I said she just ‘got better and better’ and how ‘Meister is an intelligent singer who knows how to project her voice, and she achieved extraordinary heights of passion in Act III without pushing the voice beyond its limits.’ (For full review click here.) I also mentioned how Elisabeth was – with this performance – returning to singing after something of a hiatus to her singing career, which was set to have a meteoric rise after leaving the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Elisabeth has a remarkable – and inspirational – story to tell which involves losing and regaining her singing voice.

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English National Ballet’s Nutcracker Casts a Truly Magical Spell

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker: Dancers of English National Ballet, Students from Tring Park School and the English Ballet School, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Gavin Sutherland (conductor), London Coliseum, London, 15.12.206. (JPr)

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Alina Cojocaru and Cesar Corrales in ENB’s Nutcracker
(c) Laurent Liotardo

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