Cosi Fan Tutte premiered a year before Mozart’s death in 1791. It’s probably one of our most popular operas today, largely due, but not exclusively, to its exquisitely crafted arias, which Mozart produces one after another for his female singers. I attended opening night of Cosi at English National Opera with mixed feelings however. I…
Category: review
Opera for Everyone: Debunking the elitism myth
By examining the changing perception of opera over the past century – cultural, political and social – Wilson’s book demonstrates that opera has never gone truly out of fashion. It remains popular in its many guises – from country-house opera at Glyndebourne to cheap or free tickets for under-30s and students, and opera in pubs or other non-standard venues.
Personal space: Lee Miller, Tate Modern, London
This fascinating exhibition, offering a detailed, thoughtfully-assembled overview of Miller’s career, leaves the visitor in no doubt that she was one of the finest, most important artists to have picked up a camera. I was fortunate enough to go in the show’s final weeks, and for those of you unable to get there, I hope…
Horton takes advice from the old Master and gets a standing ovation for his Chopin Scherzos
Tim Horton’s six-concert Chopin Cycle started back in 2024 and sadly the series is nearly at its end. I was thrilled to be able to catch Horton’s penultimate concert at the Wigmore on January 16th this year, where Ravel’s revolutionary waltzes were judiciously sandwiched between several late Chopin nocturnes and four Scherzos. Throughout his Chopin…
Thomas Luke: ‘See Me Now’ – a confident, imaginative debut
‘an impressive debut that leaves one wanting to hear more from this confident and imaginative musician’
Schubert’s Winterreise: Love, Loss, and Hans Zender’s Modern Twist
If anything, Zender’s Winterreise is even bleaker than Schubert’s with its strong Expressionist flavour and rich sonic associations with contemporary repertoire and instrumentation.
Retrospecstive 2025: Adrian Ainsworth’s albums of the year
Putting this list together seems to take me a little longer each January, but I firmly believe that – my ‘winning’ approach to organisation aside – it’s simply because I’m privileged to discover so much more great music every year. Without any further delay, then, here are the (20)25 releases I’m keen to bring to…
Martin Helmchen Completes Schubert’s Sonata D571
The impulse to complete an unfinished work by a composer such as Schubert arises from a blend of artistic curiosity, historical empathy and creative challenge. For many musicians and scholars, an incomplete score feels like a fragment of a larger, untold story – and one that invites further exploration. Incomplete music, such as Schubert’s Unfinished…
Major breakthrough for Burstein’s opera
Keith Burstein may be a respected British composer, but his Manifest Destiny has given him a major headache since it first premiered in the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh 2005. The opera, set in the geopolitical context of the Middle East, is the tale of Daniel, a British Jewish composer; Leila, a Palestinian poet, and Mohammed,…
International anthem: Jo Quail and Friends, Enschede, Netherlands
When I first heard cellist-composer Jo Quail perform – back in 2013, in a solo support slot – it was immediately clear that she occupied a genre all her own. A kindred spirit, for sure, with other musicians active in the dark folk / neoclassical / what-you-will underground – especially fellow ‘loopers’ (like Matt Howden,…
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