Season Previews

Season Previews from around the world

Víkingur Ólafsson is Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence in 2021-22

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Multi-award-winning Icelandic artist Víkingur Ólafsson (Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence) performs piano concertos conducted by their composers, Thomas Adès, Daníel Bjarnason and John Adams

Anyone seeking good news about classical music should look to Iceland. The Nordic island nation’s commitment to music education continues to produce composers and performers with international reach and an enthusiastic audience for their work. The Iceland Symphony Orchestra is set to celebrate the artistry and creative enterprise of one of Iceland’s best-known musicians, Víkingur Ólafsson, at Harpa in their home city of Reykjavík. The critically acclaimed pianist’s run as Artist in Residence, part of the orchestra’s compelling 2021-22 season, reflects his vision of classical music as a vibrant, living artform.

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Mariinsky Theatre announces its opera and ballet for 2021-22

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Opening of the 239th season of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg

Last season most performing companies including the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Companies staged season-long series of both opera and ballet across their performance stages. Today the Mariinsky boasts no less than four stages, two for opera and ballet and two concert halls. Last season, the performances were well attended and there is no reason not to expect full audiences in the forthcoming 239th season.

The Maid of Orleans © Alexander Neff

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Glyndebourne announces their operas and casts for 2022

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Glyndebourne Festival 2022

Glyndebourne was determined to proceed with its 2021 Festival and chose to invest in a significantly loss-making event in order to provide vital work for staff and freelancers and to stay connected to audiences. This necessitated changes to its original programme and normal working practices in order to accommodate social distancing measures. Among the adaptations were reduced orchestrations and choruses, performing company bubbles and regular testing of performers and staff.

Despite the challenges, the company successfully presented five operas, including three new socially distanced productions from international creative teams – Káťa Kabanová, Il turco in Italia and Luisa Miller – a semin-staging of Tristan und Isolde and a concert series featuring the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (read reviews on Seen and Heard).

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Emerging Dancer: A Celebration and English National Ballet in 2021/22

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English National Ballet’s New Season

Recent updates as rehearsals for English National Ballet’s 2021-2022 Season begin.

Emerging Dancer: A Celebration – 9 September 2021

Whilst a reduction in live performance has made it impossible to select Emerging Dancer finalists and People’s Choice Award winners this year, English National Ballet continues to recognise the excellence of its Artists with Emerging Dancer: A Celebration. This special event features performances from previous winners and will be live streamed on YouTube and the ENB at Home platform from the Holloway Production Studio in the company’s east London home, the Mulryan Centre for Dance, on (please note new date)  9 September 2021.

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20th Oxford Lieder Festival – 8 to 23 October 2021

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Nature’s Songbook – 20th Oxford Lieder Festival from 8 to 23 October 2021 

  • Oxford Lieder, the UK’s biggest festival of song, marks its 20th year with its most ambitious programme to date, featuring more than 100 events, both in-person and livestreamed
  • 20 new works will be premiered across the 20th-anniversary season, including five major song cycles
  • World-class singers and pianists, alongside emerging stars, take to the stage for song recitals, complemented by piano, chamber and choral works
  • An extensive series of Song Connections events forges links between music, poetry, nature, art, language and science, ensuring multiple access points to the world of song
  • A flexible range of ticket prices starting at just £3 for online streaming access, with a choice of discounts & concessionary rates, makes the Festival accessible to all.

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