United States Blossom Music Festival 2025 [4]: Alessio Bax (piano), Cleveland Orchestra / Daniele Rustioni (conductor). Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, 2.8.2025. (MSJ)
Glitter and skill from Bax and Rustioni at the Blossom Music Festival
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Surviving EIF’s eight-hour opening Tavener choral concert proves dubiously memorable
United Kingdom Edinburgh International Festival 2025 [1]: (SRT)
John Matthew Myers stars in a triumphant revival of Smetana’s Dalibor at Bard
United States Smetana, Dalibor: Soloists, Bard Festival Chorale, American Symphony Orchestra / Leon Botstein (conductor). SummerScape Opera, Fischer Center at Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, 30.8.2025. (RP)
Overly complex Die Walküre – though with a sensitive streak – at Santa Fe Opera
United States Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Orchestra of Santa Fe Opera / James Gaffigan (conductor). Crosby Theatre, Santa Fe, 30.7.2025. (HS)
Christoph Koncz makes a crisp Cleveland debut in an all-Hungarian program
United States Summers at Severance 2025 [3]: Cleveland Orchestra / Christoph Koncz (conductor). Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Cleveland, 31.7.2025. (MSJ)
The Three Choirs Festival’s revival of a long-neglected oratorio by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
United Kingdom Three Choirs Festival [4] – Coleridge-Taylor: Rebecca Hardwick (soprano), Aoife Miskelly (soprano), Amy Holyland (mezzo-soprano), Martha McLorinan (mezzo-soprano). Mark LeBrocq (tenor), David Stout (baritone), Three Choirs Festival Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra / Samuel Hudson (conductor). Hereford Cathedral, 31.7.2025. (JQ)
For the Liceu’s West Side Story with its star singers, the Oscar goes to … Gustavo Dudamel
Spain Bernstein, West Side Story (concert version): Soloists, Chorus (chorus director: Pablo Assante) and Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu / Gustavo Dudamel (conductor). Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona, 29.7.2025. (JMI)
No winners, only triumphs at Verão Clássico TalentFest
Portugal Verão Clássico Festival 2025 [3] – TalentFest Concerts I–III: 50plus players (violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, voice). Centro Cultural de Belém, Sala Luís de Freitas Branco, Lisbon, 24, 25 & 26.7.2025. (LV)
