Köpplinger’s child-friendly Die Zauberflöte returns opera to Dresden’s Semperoper

GermanyGermany Mozart, Die Zauberflöte: Soloists, Dresden State Opera Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden / Christoph Gedschold (conductor). Filmed (directed by Tilo Krause) at the Semperoper Dresden on 31.3.2021 and streamed on 5.4.2021. (JPr)

Klaus Florian Vogt (Tamino) and Nikola Hillebrand (Queen of the Night)

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Christoph Loy explores the passion and beauty of Tchaikovsky’s songs for Oper Frankfurt

GermanyGermany Tchaikovsky, Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt: Soprano – Olesya Golovneva (soprano), Kelsey Lauritano (mezzo-soprano), Andrea Carè (tenor) and Vladislav Sulimsky, Mikołaj Trąbka (baritones), Mariusz Kłubczuk and Nikolai Petersen (piano), Members of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Oper Frankfurt. Streaming on Arte from 26.3. to 25.6.2021. (RP)

Olesya Golovneva (soprano) & Mikołai Trąbka (baritone) © M. Rittershaus

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This Bach B minor Mass is arguably VOCES8’s finest achievement to date

United KingdomUnited Kingdom LIVE From London Spring – Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232: Carolyn Sampson, Eleonore Cockerham (sopranos), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Jeremy Budd (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass-baritone), Rachel Podger (guest leader). Academy of Ancient Music / Barnaby Smith (conductor). Church of St Bartholomew the Great, London, 4.2.2021, and streamed 5.4.2021. (CC)

Bach’s B minor Mass in London’s Church of St Bartholomew the Great
(c) Colin Steen

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Apollo’s Fire brings the inspiration of Jewish culture in the Italian Baroque to Cleveland

United StatesUnited States Various composers, Apollo’s Fire’s Tapestry – Jewish Ghettos of Baroque Italy: Daphna Mor (soprano, recorder), Ashlee Foreman (soprano), Daniel Moody (countertenor), Jacob Perry (tenor), Jeffrey Strauss (baritone), Apollo’s Fire / Jeannette Sorrell (conductor/harpsichord). First Baptist Church, Shaker Heights, Ohio, on 20-21.3.2021 and reviewed as a concert stream. (MSJ)

Apollo’s Fire’s Tapestry – Jewish Ghettos of Baroque Italy

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Socially distanced televised Messiah from English National Opera suggests spring and hope are in the air

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Handel, Messiah, HWV 56: Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano), Nadine Benjamin (soprano), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), John Findon (tenor), Anthony Gregory (tenor), William Thomas (bass), Nardus Williams (soprano) and Benson Wilson (baritone), Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera / Laurence Cummings (harpsichord/conductor). Broadcast on BBC Two, 3.4.2021. (JPr)

Laurence Cummings conducts the ENO Orchestra © Tristram Kenton

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VOCES8’s Fauré, Bach, Barber – and Elgar – Cadogan Hall concert is warming, consoling and beautiful

United KingdomUnited Kingdom LIVE From London Spring – Fauré, Bach, Barber: Andrea Haines (soprano), Jonathan Pacey (bass), VOCES8, English Chamber Orchestra / Barnaby Smith (conductor). Streamed from the Cadogan Hall, London, 2.4.2021. (CC)

VOCES8, English Chamber Orchestra and Barnaby Smith (conductor)

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Rare and wonderful recital from Christine Goerke for Cal Performances at Home

United StatesUnited States Various, Christine Goerke (soprano) and Craig Terry (piano): Recorded at Art Factory Studios, Paterson, NJ, on 18.2.2021. Viewed on 1.4.2021 and available to stream on Cal Performances at Home through 30.6.2021. (RP)

Christine Goerke

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Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s remarkably powerful St John Passion streamed from Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Bach’s St John Passion, BWV 245: Nick Pritchard {Evangelist}, William Thomas (Christus}, Alex Ashworth (Pilatus), Julia Doyle (soprano), Alexander Chance (countertenor), Peter Davoren (tenor), Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor). Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, streamed on DG Stage (click here) 2.4.2021. (CC)

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