Articles & Interviews

The master list of news, features and interviews

Bampton Classical Opera returns with a seasonal concert in Witney, Oxfordshire, on 12 December

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BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA 2020

BAROQUE CHRISTMAS CANTATAS
A concert for St Beornwald’s Day
Saturday 12 December 2020, 4pm
St Mary’s Church, Church Green, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 4AW

Bampton Classical Opera presents a seasonal concert at St Mary’s Church in Witney, Oxfordshire on Saturday 12 December at 4pm, to mark St Beornwald’s Day, the annual celebration of the patron saint of Bampton. The concert will feature two fine baroque pastoral Christmas cantatas: Alessandro Scarlatti’s ‘Non sò qual più m’ingombra’, and Antonio Caldara’s ‘Amarilli vezzosa’.

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The Royal Opera House presents Current, Rising, the world’s first opera in hyper reality

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Current, Rising

Current, Rising (c) Figment Productions

From 19 December 2020 the Royal Opera House will present the world’s first opera in hyper reality: Current, Rising – a unique collaboration between the Royal Opera House’s innovation programme, Audience Labs, award-winning Figment Productions and Royal Holloway, University of London.

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Poetry Truth and Understanding

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Poetry Truth and Understanding. That trinity comes out from my church-attendance friends as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Pontius Pilate was almost as witty as Jesus himself. My vote for the fifth Prefect of Judea goes with the Orthodox Church’s, who revere him as a hero: unlike the spoilsport Western Church, who portray him as a villain. What is truth? is the question that the Godhead Himself must constantly ask as well as urge his followers to ask. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things which are God’s says Jesus, in the response to the Pharisee’s trick question as to whether it is lawful to pay your taxes. Good Christians do well to follow Our Lord’s advice. So, no apologies to the super-taxed wealthy. And absolutely no excuse for your responsibilities toward God.  Those responsibilities are both complex and a delight. Further thought is needed.

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SOPRANO FATMA SAID IN CONVERSATION WITH RICK PERDIAN

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Rick Perdian talks to Fatma Said

Mention Egypt, and classical music lovers immediately think of Verdi’s Aida, which was commissioned by Cairo’s Khedivial Opera House and had its première there in 1871 – and of little else. A new generation of Egyptian singers is changing that dynamic, and Fatma Said in particular is attracting notice for her luminous mezzo-soprano and blossoming international career. With El Nour, her debut recording on Warner Classics, Said combines her twin loves of song and her native country’s culture in music that is as colorful and exotic as the places that inspired it.

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Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic perform Má vlast on 17 November 2020 as a Velvet Revolution concert

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Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov (chief conductor & music director) launch annual series commemorating the VELVET REVOLUTION with SMETANA’S MÁ VLAST in collaboration with Prague Spring International Music Festival  on Tuesday 17 November 2020 on Facebook at 7.15pm GMT (AVAILABLE ON DEMAND FOR 7 DAYS)

Semyon Bychkov (conductor) & Czech Philharmonic (c) Marco Borggreve

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Pianist Duncan Honeybourne in conversation with Robert Beattie

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New piano music emerges from the Covid lockdown

Duncan Honeybourne © Kris Worsley Photography

Duncan Honeybourne gave his first London recital at 15 and his first BBC broadcast recital at 17. He was a prize-winner at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he graduated with First Class Honours and later received the honorary award of HonRBC for professional distinction. His teachers included Rosemarie Wright, Philip Martin, John York and Dame Fanny Waterman, and he completed his studies in London for three years with Mikhail Kazakevich on a Goldenweiser Scholarship awarded by the Sheepdrove Trust.

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BBC Two will broadcast Mozart’s Requiem from English National Opera on 14 November

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English National Opera (ENO) is delighted to announce that BBC Two is to broadcast Mozart’s Requiem from English National Opera on Saturday 14 November at 7pm. Presented by Danielle de Niese, it has been performed and recorded specially for a lockdown television audience at the London Coliseum, with strict safety measures in place for the performers, crew and presenter.

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