United Kingdom Aljaž and Janette A Night to Remember: Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 20.5.2025. (JPr)
Have A Night to Remember with Strictly’s Aljaž and Janette, their dancers and live band
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Unsuk Chin’s new Hamburg opera is a puzzling and, in many ways, frustrating experience
Germany Unsuk Chin, Die dunkle Seite des Mondes: Soloists, Chorus of the Hamburg State Opera, Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra / Kent Nagano (conductor). Hamburg State Opera, 18.5.2025. (MB)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s David et Jonathas was unmissable at Versailles Chapel Royal
France Marc-Antoine Charpentier, David et Jonathas: Soloists, Ballet de l’Opéra Royal, Marguerite Louise Choir and Orchestra / Gaétan Jarry (conductor). Chapel Royal, Château de Versailles, France, 16.5.2025. (CC)
You will find Asmik Grigorian’s tour de force in Paris Opera’s Il trittico hard to forget
France Puccini, Il trittico: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Opéra national de Paris / Carlo Rizzi (conductor). Broadcast live from the Opéra Bastille (directed by Mathilde Jobbé-Duval) on 16.5.2025 and available until 16.6.2025. (JPr)
A concert version of Handel’s Tamerlano in Madrid falls below expectations
Spain Handel, Tamerlano (concert performance): Soloists, Freiburger Barockorchester / René Jacobs (conductor). Teatro Real, Madrid, 16.5.2025. (JMI)
In Magdeburg’s Fidelio, the music wins in a production of distortions
Germany Beethoven, Fidelio: Soloists, Chorus, and Extras, Theater Magdeburg, and Magdeburger Singakademie. Magdeburg Philharmonic / Pavel Poplawski (conductor). Theater Magdeburg, 17.5.2025. (DM-D)
In Beverly Hills, Mark Morris peppers his Pepperland with nostalgia
United States The Beatles and Ethan Iverson (composers), Mark Morris (choreographer), Pepperland: Dancers of Mark Morris Dance Group, Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, 16.5.2025. (JRo)
Sondra Radvanovsky is an outstanding Odabella in Teatro Real’s Attila
Spain Verdi, Attila (concert performance): Soloists, Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra / Nicola Luisotti (conductor). Teatro Real, Madrid, 14.5.2025. (JMI)
