Barrie Kosky’s Das Rheingold for the Royal Opera is a miscast, misconceived, mishmash of ideas

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Wagner, Das Rheingold: Soloists, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Peter Jones) from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to Cineworld Basildon, 20.9.2023. (JPr)

Christopher Purves (Alberich) and the Rhinemaidens © Monika Rittershaus

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Vienna State Ballet’s season opener Don Quixote revival does Rudolf Nureyev proud

AustriaAustria Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote: Dancers of Vienna State Ballet, Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Robert Reimer (conductor). Transmitted live (directed by Balázs Delbó) from the Vienna State Opera, 16.9.2023. (JPr)

Zsolt Török (l, Don Quixote), Liudmila Konovalova (centre, Dulcinea) and Olga Esina (r, The Queen of the Dryads) © Wiener Staatsballett/Ashley Taylor

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Authentic but unengaging Threepenny Opera from Barrie Kosky and the Berliner Ensemble in Edinburgh

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Edinburgh International Festival 2023 [12] – Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill, The Threepenny Opera: Soloists and Musicians of the Berliner Ensemble / Adam Benzwi (musical director). Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19.8.2023. (SRT)

Barrie Kosky and the Berliner Ensemble’s The Threepenny Opera © Jess Shurte

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A kaleidoscope of music at the BBC Proms from Elena Urioste and Tadaaki Otaka’s BBC NOW

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Prom 7 – Rachmaninoff, Coleridge-Taylor, Beethoven: Elena Urioste (violin), BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Tadaaki Otaka (conductor). Recorded (directed by Seren Irvine) for BBC TV on 19.7.2023. (JPr)

Tadaaki Otaka conducts the BBC NOW © BBC/Andy Paradise

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BBC Proms 2023 begin with thoughts of Ukrainian resistance undermined by an odd choice of music

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Prom 1 – First Night of the Proms: Lesley Manville (actor), Paul Lewis (piano), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Dalia Stasevska (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by John Williams) from the Royal Albert Hall, London, 14.7.2023. (JPr)

Dalia Stasevska conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra © BBC/Chris Christodoulou

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