SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, BROADCASTS, AND THEATRE
India Operalia 2024: Various composers and soloists, Symphony Orchestra of India / Plácido Domingo and Kamal Khan (conductors), Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, 21.9.2024. (JSM)
Anthony Roth Costanzo’s $11 a ticket or ‘Pick your Price’ initiative at Opera Philadelphia in 2024-2025
Carnegie Hall launches ‘If This Hall Could Talk’ – a podcast series exploring its rich history and lore
Robert Beattie in conversation with Cameron Menzies, Artistic Director of Northern Ireland Opera, and baritone Yuriy Yurchuk
I have been reviewing Northern Ireland Opera’s productions for some years (links to some of my reviews can be found here). I have been struck both by the very high quality and infinite variety of their productions. They have produced a string of more conventional operatic productions, including La bohème, La traviata and Tosca which have received glowing reviews from the Press. Opera Magazine commented: ‘Northern Ireland Opera’s La traviata suggests that the artistic director Cameron Menzies has at long last realised the region’s ambition to have a grand opera company truly deserving of the name.’
Southbank Sinfonia at St John’s Smith Square enters a new era as it announces rebrand to Sinfonia Smith Square
The newly rebranded Sinfonia Smith Square marks the start of an exciting new chapter in the organisation’s history. In April 2021, the renowned venue St John’s Smith Square merged with the much-loved Southbank Sinfonia to become one organisation, Southbank Sinfonia at St John’s Smith Square.
Now, in June 2024, the merged organisation is relaunching as Sinfonia Smith Square.
ETO to relocate to Sheffield by October 2024 as part of the Arts Council England Transfer Programme
English Touring Opera (ETO) is delighted to announce the city of Sheffield as the company’s new home, and will relocate its offices there by the end of October 2024 as part of the Arts Council England Transfer Programme.
English National Ballet is thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2024 Emerging Dancer Award is Breanna Foad
Having performed the Venetian Carnival duet from Satanella and Penrose, a new contemporary work by Ching-Ying Chien, with her partner Thiago Pereira, Breanna Foad was announced as the winner during the Emerging Dancer event, hosted by English National Ballet’s Artistic Director, Aaron S. Watkin, at Sadler’s Wells on 24 May 2024.
Jeers to Cheers in San Diego
When my wife and I moved to San Diego from Michigan more than 25 years ago, we were disappointed in the city’s symphony orchestra and its performance venues. We had been spoiled by conductor Neeme Järvi and his admired and often recorded Detroit Symphony. Had I reacted like a sports fan, I would have jeered the first time I heard the San Diego Symphony. Instead, I cringed in discomfort at botched notes, ragged entries and poor acoustics at both indoor and outdoor concerts.