SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, THEATRE , BROADCASTS AND FILMS
The master list of news, features and interviews
St Mary’s Perivale in the pandemic
A brief resume of the past eventful 12 months by Hugh Mather
Our next concert, on 16 March 2021 (click here), will be our 100th LIVE pandemic concert – probably more than any other UK venue. Huge credit to our technical team, led by Simon Shute (right) and George Auckland (left), who have made it all possible. Here is the story of the past extraordinary 12 months.
Royal Opera House to open its doors on 17 May
Booking is now open for the Royal Opera House’s first live broadcast of 2021 – Bertolt Brecht’s and Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel. Produced by the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, the double bill will be streamed live from the Main Stage in Covent Garden on 9 April at 7.30pm GMT.
FOR OUR RECENT REVIEW OF THIS BRECHT/WEILL DOUBLE BILL CLICK HERE
British Director and Jette Parker Young Artist Isabelle Kettle reimagines Weill and Brecht’s darkly satirical operas, following her directorial debut at ROH with Susanna which premiered in The Linbury Theatre in March 2020 (review click here).
Scottish Chamber Orchestra Spring 2021 online season
Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) today announces six new online concerts for Spring 2021, broadcast for free. During March and April, concerts include the World Premiere of SCO Associate Composer Anna Clyne’s Overflow, guest artists such as baritone Marcus Farnsworth and oboist Nicholas Daniel, works by Vítězslava Kaprálová and Dani Howard, and a version of Prokofiev’s Sonata for Solo Violin in D major played by 8 violinists. Filmed at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh and Perth Concert Hall, the concerts will be broadcast via SCO’s YouTube and Facebook channels and available for catch up for 30 days.
English National Opera and BBC Two announce the broadcast on Saturday 3 April at 6pm of Handel’s Messiah, captured exclusively for television this Easter
FOR A REVIEW FOLLOWING THE BROADCAST CLICK HERE
The hour-long performance of Handel’s much-loved masterpiece will be imaginatively staged at the London Coliseum, and filmed specifically for a television audience. With no live audience present, the performance will be brought to life by the creative teams of the English National Opera, and performed by guest soloists and the ENO Chorus and Orchestra, making imaginative use of the stunning auditorium at the London Coliseum. It will be presented by saxophonist and broadcaster YolanDa Brown and broadcaster Petroc Trelawny.
For the first time in its history, the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic hosts a festival entirely dedicated to the personality and work of Nikolay Myaskovsky (1881-1950). [For an essay on ‘Nikolay Myaskovsky – the Conscience of Russian Music’ by Seen and Heard International‘s Gregor Tassie click here.] Despite his great creative heritage, the composer, cared for and shunned by the Soviet regime, is one of the least known, understood and recognized figures of Russian music of the 20th century. The Festival has a form of dialogues – with the epoch, fate, counterparts – shedding light on the humble personality of Nikolay Yakovlevich Myaskovsky, whom his contemporaries called ‘the artistic conscience of music.’
The Belfast Ensemble, in association with Young at Art, Belfast Children’s Festival present
The Musician: A Horror Opera for Children
FOR OUR RECENT REVIEW CLICK HERE
Streaming: Friday 12 March – Sunday 14 March, 7pm
Conor Mitchell’s darkly comic children’s opera retells a familiar story: ‘who was the Pied Piper? and ‘Why did the rats all dance to his tune?’ This world premiere from the award-winning Belfast Ensemble (click here) brings opera home to Northern Ireland. Musically extraordinary, this cautionary tale explores themes of nature, nurture and just desserts!
WATERPERRY OPERA FESTIVAL – 12 – 21 August 2021
Waterperry House & Gardens, Waterperry, Oxfordshire, OX33 1JZ
Following the sell-out success of the 2020 Mini-Festival, Waterperry Opera Festival will return with an ambitious ten-day open-air Covid-safe festival in August 2021. This year’s programme will include seven productions, as well as a variety of workshops, masterclasses, talks, and pop-up performances. With the advantage of Waterperry’s extensive historic grounds, the festival will continue to adapt and innovate in this changeable climate to create an engaging festival for all.
English National Opera announces new staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle
Directed by Richard Jones and conducted by Martyn Brabbins, The Valkyrie will form the first part of a complete Ring cycle over the next five years.
English National Opera (ENO) is to bring Wagner’s Ring cycle to the London Coliseum, starting with The Valkyrie this Autumn, subject to any further lockdown restrictions. Directed by the award-winning Richard Jones, and marking the first time in more than 15 years since ENO last staged The Ring, all four parts of The Ring cycle will be staged at the London Coliseum over five years. Rhinegold will premiere in 2022/23 followed by a reprise of The Valkyrie, and new productions of Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods in 2024 and 2025 consecutively. The Metropolitan Opera is co-producing.