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The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is delighted to announce that Japanese conductor Kazuki Yamada has been appointed as its Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor with effect from 1 April 2023 for an initial four and a half-year period.
From stage to screen and to your home The Royal Opera House is delighted to announce the return of its streaming programme, bringing six productions from its 2021/22 Season straight to your home. The programme includes a mixture of premieres and repertory favourites from The Royal Opera: David McVicar’s spectacular production of Mozart’s The Magic … Read more
Opening of the 239th season of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg
Last season most performing companies including the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Companies staged season-long series of both opera and ballet across their performance stages. Today the Mariinsky boasts no less than four stages, two for opera and ballet and two concert halls. Last season, the performances were well attended and there is no reason not to expect full audiences in the forthcoming 239th season.
BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA 2021 – Christoph Willibald Gluck Paris and Helen
(1770 – 250th anniversary production)
FIRST-EVER LONDON STAGING, ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE, FRIDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
‘..a work of shining beauty, an exquisite, at moments rapturous outpouring of romantic lyricism with few parallels in 18th-century opera‘ Max Loppert, Opera Magazine
Following performances at Bampton in July, and Westonbirt School on 30 August, Bampton Classical Opera (click here) will bring their highly-praised production of Gluck’s major work, Paride ed Elena to St John’s Smith Square on 24 September, which will be the first-ever London staging of this opera.
AN EVENING OF DANCE AND CONVERSATION WITH SERGEI POLUNIN
FRIDAY 15 OCTOBER 2021, 7.30 PM AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM
Join world-renowned iconic ballet dancer, actor and artist SERGEI POLUNIN at a one-night-only unique appearance: an unmissable evening of intimate conversation and UK premieres of new solos live on-stage at London’s Palladium theatre, to celebrate the publication of his autobiography FREE: A LIFE IN IMAGES AND WORDS (teNeues Publishing, 2021, click here).
Glyndebourne Festival 2022
Glyndebourne was determined to proceed with its 2021 Festival and chose to invest in a significantly loss-making event in order to provide vital work for staff and freelancers and to stay connected to audiences. This necessitated changes to its original programme and normal working practices in order to accommodate social distancing measures. Among the adaptations were reduced orchestrations and choruses, performing company bubbles and regular testing of performers and staff.
Despite the challenges, the company successfully presented five operas, including three new socially distanced productions from international creative teams – Káťa Kabanová, Il turco in Italia and Luisa Miller – a semin-staging of Tristan und Isolde and a concert series featuring the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (read reviews on Seen and Heard).
English National Ballet’s New Season
Recent updates as rehearsals for English National Ballet’s 2021-2022 Season begin.
Emerging Dancer: A Celebration – 9 September 2021
Whilst a reduction in live performance has made it impossible to select Emerging Dancer finalists and People’s Choice Award winners this year, English National Ballet continues to recognise the excellence of its Artists with Emerging Dancer: A Celebration. This special event features performances from previous winners and will be live streamed on YouTube and the ENB at Home platform from the Holloway Production Studio in the company’s east London home, the Mulryan Centre for Dance, on (please note new date) 9 September 2021.
Permanence as Pleasure: Rodin at Tate Modern
Advanced in his career, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) went to see the Hellenic (Greek and Roman) sculptures in the British Museum. Those which had been broken spoke most powerfully to him. So much so that he returned to his workshop and immediately broke some of his own sculptures. Their so-called message increased. Critics and friends agreed.