SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, BROADCASTS, AND THEATRE
All the Seen and Heard Interviews
Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake discuss Schubert’s Winterreise and their decades-long musical partnership
Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake bring their renowned interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise to New York’s Kaufmann Concert Hall at 92NY on 5 March 2025. Their North American tour takes them to Montreal, Boston and Baltimore, but only New York audiences will experience their masterful performance of Schubert’s great song cycle.
200 years of Bruckner, 35 years of Ebracher Musiksommer: Maestro Gerd Schaller interviewed by Ken Ward
Conductor Andrew Litton talks to Geoffrey Newman
Born in New York City in 1959, Andrew Litton is currently Music Director of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Litton shot to international attention in his mid-twenties after winning the BBC/Rupert Foundation International Conducting Competition in 1982 and quickly became Assistant Conductor at the National Symphony of Washington under Rostropovich. He then took on successive Principal Conductor appointments with the Bournemouth Symphony (1988-1994), Dallas Symphony (1994-2006), and the Bergen Philharmonic (2003-2015). He also directed the Minnesota Orchestra’s summer festival from 2003-2017. Litton has now recorded over 140 CDs, primarily on the Virgin, Delos and BIS labels. He is also known for his virtuosity on the piano and his love of jazz and Gershwin. This interview tracks the conductor’s development and his achievements in detail. It took place coincident with his appearance with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in October 2024 (review here).
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.’
Distinguished American conductor Leonard Slatkin talks to Geoffrey Newman
Leonard Slatkin has been a force in the American classical music scene for almost fifty years and will celebrate his eightieth birthday in 2024. Born into a distinguished musical family and trained at Aspen and Juilliard, Slatkin has been Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony (1979-1996), the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington (1996-2008), the BBC Symphony (2000-2004), the Detroit Symphony (2008-2018) and Orchestre National de Lyon (2011-2017).
Gavin Higgins’s Horn Concerto’s London premiere: Colin Clarke discusses it with the composer and soloist
It is not every day a new horn concerto is premiered. On Wednesday, February 7 Gavin Higgins‘s concerto receives its London premiere by the London Chamber Orchestra under Christopher Warren-Green, with Ben Goldscheider as soloist. The piece appears in the company of music by Elizabeth Maconchy (Music for Strings), another Horn Concerto (Mozart No.4), and Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony (a report will appear on this site).
Zach Carstensen profiles conductor Kahchun Wong
Anticipation crackles in the air, thick like summer lightning before the storm breaks. A hush descends, settling over an expectant audience. Every cough or rustling program feels like a desecration. At the podium, conductor Kahchun Wong stands at the edge of creation – shoulders squared, back straight, baton held aloft. A moment’s pause, pregnant with possibility, his hand dips, slow and deliberate, tracing the first stroke of a masterpiece: Beethoven’s Symphony No.9.
François-Xavier Roth, Musical Director of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, will conduct Die Soldaten the legendary opera by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, in Cologne, Hamburg, and Paris. He discusses this extraordinary yet still too little-known composer.
