United States Meyerbeer, Le prophète: Soloists, ‘Marche du Sacre’ Banda, Bard Festival Chorus, Dancers, Enfants, American Symphony Orchestra / Leon Botstein (conductor). Bard SummerScape, Fisher Center at Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 4.8.2024. (RP)
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Much fine singing to admire in the Tannhäuser revival at Bayreuth
Germany Bayreuth Festival 2024 [4] – Wagner, Tannhäuser: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Nathalie Stutzmann (conductor). Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 4.8.2023. (MB)
Longborough Festival Opera completes a wonderful season with an intriguing La bohème
United Kingdom Longborough Festival Opera [2] – Puccini, La bohème: Soloists, Longborough Festival Orchestra / Alice Farnham (conductor). Longborough, Cotswolds, 30.7.2024. (CP)
Fine singing but problematic conducting as Der fliegende Holländer is revived at Bayreuth
Germany Bayreuth Festival 2024 [2] – Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Oksana Lyniv (conductor). Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 1.8.2024. (MB)
Garsington Opera’s A Trip to the Moon will have children and adults delight in the magic of live theatre
United Kingdom Garsington Opera 2024 [5] – Andrew Norman, A Trip to the Moon: Soloists, Garsington Opera Adult and Youth Companies, Primary and Infant School Companies, and Philharmonia Orchestra / Douglas Boyd (conductor). Garsington Opera at Wormsley, 30.7.2024. (CR)
Sofia Opera’s spectacular staging of The Hermit of Rila is a spiritual and visual musical wonder
Bulgaria Fr Kiril Popov, The Hermit of Rila: Soloists, Children’s Vocal and Theatre Formation (Dimitar Kostantsaliev, director), Chorus and Orchestra of Sofia Opera / Metropolitan of Stara Zagora Kyprian (conductor). Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Sofia, 26.7.2024. (GT)
Christian Thielemann leads a fine concert performance of Capriccio in Salzburg
Austria Salzburg Festival 2024 [4] – R. Strauss, Capriccio: Soloists, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg, 26.7.2024. (MB)
Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson’s new Bayreuth Tristan lacks coherence, dramatic cogency and better singing
Germany Bayreuth Festival 2024 [1] – Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov (conductor). Recorded live (directed by Michael Beyer) at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, 25.7.2024. (JPr)