United Kingdom Ballet Icons Gala 2025: Soloists, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Maria Seletskaja (conductor). London Coliseum, 9.3.2024. (JPr)
Ballet Icons Gala 2025 had much to enjoy from its enterprising blend of classics and new works
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict in Bremen has a new contemporary twist
Germany Berlioz, Béatrice et Bénédict: Soloists, Chorus, and Extras of Theater Bremen, Bremer Philharmoniker / Lukas Ziesché (conductor). Theater Bremen, 6.3.2025. (DM-D)
New chamber opera brings warmth and insight to hot-button social issues in the San Francisco world premiere
United States Hanlon, The Pigeon Keeper: Soloists and Orchestra of Opera Parallèle / Nicole Paiement (conductor). Cowell Theatre, San Francisco, 9.3.2025. (HS)
Paris Opera Ballet reveal the embarrassment of riches in Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty
France Rudolf Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty: Paris Opera Ballet, Orchestra of Paris National Opera / Vello Pähn (conductor). Opéra Bastille, Paris, 8.3.2025. (JO’D)
Lise Davidsen triumphs as Beethoven’s Leonore at the Met
United States Beethoven, Fidelio: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Susanna Mälkki (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 4.3.2025. (RP)
Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick charts a new course at the Metropolitan Opera
United States Jake Heggie, Moby-Dick: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera / Karen Kamensek (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 3.3.2025. (ES-S)
The WNO return to Swansea’s Grand Theatre with their uplifting Figaro
United Kingdom Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera / Kerem Hasan (conductor). The Grand Theatre, Swansea, 27.2.2025. (LJ)
La Monnaie’s Götterdämmerung has high musical values but is performed in an art installation
Belgium Wagner, Götterdämmerung: La Monnaie Chorus and Symphony Orchestra / Alain Altinoglu (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Anaїs Spiro) from La Monnaie, Brussels, 23.2.2025 and available on YouTube or OperaVision until 23.8.2025. (JPr)