SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, BROADCASTS, AND THEATRE
Christian Thielemann to succeed Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden
At its meeting today, the Board of Trustees of the Berlin Opera Foundation approved the contract with Christian Thielemann as General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden from September 1, 2024. Thielemann succeeds Daniel Barenboim, who is an honorary citizen of Berlin.
Lammermuir Festival faces future challenge head-on as Creative Scotland turns it down for funding in 2023
Lammermuir Festival has been turned down by Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for funding towards this year’s festival. Over a period of 40 weeks the festival lodged three applications having been strongly encouraged by Creative Scotland officials to re-apply twice. Each application was strongly recommended for funding by the Music Department at Creative Scotland, particularly as a key part of a network of festivals across the country including East Neuk, Paxton, Cumnock Tryst and St Magnus. Each application has been turned down by assessment panels, the last notification being on 22 August, just sixteen days before the 2023 festival opened.
Japan Society’s John Cage’s Japan In 2012, the world celebrated John Cage’s hundredth birthday. ‘World’ is a vague term that risks meaning North America and Europe when used with bravado from a Western musical perspective. But it is no exaggeration to say that John Cage held worldwide notoriety far beyond the New York City of post-World … Read more
OPERA RARA LAUNCH THEIR DONIZETTI SONG PROJECT
Lawrence Brownlee (tenor) and Carlo Rizzi (piano) on Saturday 9 September, 1pm at Wigmore Hall
For information CLICK HERE
Charlotte Corderoy in conversation with John Quinn
One of the most eagerly anticipated events of the 2023 Three Choirs Festival is the semi-staged production of Vaughan Williams’ The Pilgrim’s Progress. This is a key work in Vaughan Williams’ output; the composition occupied him for a very long time – for three decades, from the early 1920s until its first performance in 1951 – and it blends several different aspects of his style. I first came to know and love it fully fifty years ago through Sir Adrian Boult’s famous EMI recording, issued in 1972 to mark the composer’s centenary. Opportunities to experience it live have been few and far between, though. I managed to see a semi-staged performance that Richard Hickox conducted in Symphony Hall, Birmingham in 1997, in which, as I recall, several singers took part who later featured in his excellent 1998 Chandos recording. To my lasting regret, I never saw the widely praised production which the Royal Northern College of Music put on in 1992, though I subsequently obtained and admired the live audio recording that was issued. Finally, in 2012 I was able to see a full staged production at English National Opera and though I was irritated by some aspects of the production, the musical performance, under the expert baton of Martyn Brabbins, was excellent (review). When I learned that the work was to feature in the Three Choirs Festival it became an unmissable event as far as I was concerned.
My interest was further piqued when I discovered that the performance is to be conducted by Charlotte Corderoy, a young British conductor and someone, moreover, for whom this performance will be something of a musical homecoming because she has strong connections with Gloucester Cathedral and the Three Choirs Festival. Interestingly, in returning to conduct at Three Choirs she will follow in the footsteps of Gloucester-born Edward Gardner, a former chorister at Gloucester Cathedral, who appeared as a guest conductor at the 2013, 2016 and 2019 Festivals, all held in his home city.
Royal Opera House appoints Speranza Scappucci as Principal Guest Conductor
The Royal Opera House announces the appointment of Speranza Scappucci as Principal Guest Conductor of The Royal Opera. Scappucci will take up the position in September 2025, at the start of the 2025/26 Season, becoming the first Principal Guest Conductor since 1997.
Bill Kenny (5 September 1938 – 31 October 2022)
Emeritus Editor, Seen and Heard International
We are sad to learn of the passing of Bill Kenny at the age of 83 last Monday October 31, 2022. He had not been well for a while. His character was best exemplified by himself in his own gently self-deprecating profile on MusicWeb International:
Royal Opera House appoints Jakub Hrůša as Music Director
The Royal Opera House today announces the appointment of Jakub Hrůša as Music Director of The Royal Opera. Hrůša will assume the position of Music Director Designate with immediate effect and will begin his tenure as Music Director in September 2025.