Our recent Swiss holiday closed with a lightning visit to Opernhaus Zürich, to catch two performances in one day: a matinée of Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’, followed by a staged version of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elias’ (or ‘Elijah’). Both were rewarding experiences. I had never seen a production of ‘L’Orfeo’ before (a rather important omission, now happily rectified) and…
Tag: review
Self taut: Barbara Hepworth ‘Strings’, Piano Nobile
I managed to see this exquisite exhibition with only a few days to spare: it closes on 2 May. If you are in the right place at the right time – Holland Park, London – I urge you to go if you can. For those of you who cannot get there, here is a brief…
No limit: Barb Jungr and her Trio, ‘Hallelujah on Desolation Row’
While Barb Jungr has interpreted a range of songs by both Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen throughout her career, this marvellous new release is only her second album to bring them together as ‘twindred spirits’ of sorts. The first, ‘Hard Rain’, is an essential, blistering listen, focusing on the politics in the poetry. However, this…
Male gaze: Francis Bacon, ‘Human Presence’, National Portrait Gallery, London
This collection of more than 50 portraits painted by Francis Bacon is certainly intense – although perhaps not for the reasons one might have expected. Some of Bacon’s most famous and celebrated canvases show extremes of violence and distortion: the full-on body horror of the early figures at the crucifixion, or the melting abyss of…
Passion players: Sasha Cooke & Malcolm Martineau, Wigmore Hall, London
Before this recital, I’d only had relatively few opportunities to hear mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke live. The first occasion was Handel’s ‘Orlando’ in concert at London’s Barbican in 2016, an evening of such brilliance, I still think about it often. Cooke gave a memorable performance as Medoro (alongside other favourites of mine, including Iestyn Davies and…
Bywater’s staging of Britten’s Turn of the Screw lifts the opera to new heights
Benjamin Britten’s opera, The Turn of the Screw, is a psychological thriller based on Henry James’s novella of the same title. In the world of opera, psychological thrillers are thin on the ground and for good reason – it is hard to express narrative ambiguity or uncertainty in musical theatre. Isabella Bywater’s production at English National Opera…
English Touring Opera kick starts its 2024 Autumn Season with an entrancing production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Snowmaiden’
Last week English Touring Opera opened their Autumn touring season with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Snowmaiden. The Snowmaiden premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, in 1882 and the Hackney Empire’s plush red stage curtain certainly brought a flavour of Imperial Russia to this evening’s performance.. The stage was lit with a circle of light – glass panels encased wintry…
Emotional intelligence: ‘Eno’
This post is about Gary Hustwit’s new documentary on musician, producer, artist, thinker and what-you-will, Brian Eno. Please feel free to read the sections in any order. Pro-Bono This version of U2’s lead singer – still a youngster, suspended between earnest rookie and later model of save-the-world self-assurance he would eventually become – pours every…
‘Edgar’ – Puccini’s early unloved opera performed at Opera Holland Park
2024 is the centenary of Puccini’s death. In order to honour the great man, James Clutton, Director of Opera at OHP, opted to put on Tosca this season and also Edgar, a little-known early work of Puccini’s. Edgar premiered at La Scala in 1899 and received a lacklustre reception. Believing he could improve on the opera,…
Crown prints: ‘Royal Portraits’, The King’s Gallery, London
Subtitled ‘A Century of Photography’, this is an absolute crowd-pleaser of an exhibition, precision-tooled to draw in the fascinated tourist alongside the domestic royal-watcher. However, whatever your views on the monarchy (which, I can assure you, it won’t change in any way), I still think it deserves your attention. This is a show equally concerned…
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