Opera Features

Jessye Norman, 1945-2019

David Nice Tuesday, 01 October 2019

She was recording Carmen in Paris, and the Radio France auditorium was packed with the press, asking such dazzling questions as "have you been up the Eiffel Tower yet?" and "what do you think of the French men?". I thought, given the statuesque approach, it might be best to wonder if there was a nobility in the characterisation.

Comment

'This goes beyond music and drama': tenor Nicky Spence on Martinů's 'The Greek Passion'

Nicky Spence Friday, 13 September 2019

I’m a big fanboy of Czech music, Janáček and Martinů especially, but I’d never seen The Greek Passion before being cast as Manolios in Opera North’s new production, as it remains quite a rarity in the opera house. For those who don’t know the work, it tells of a group of refugees who arrive in a villa

Making new waves: Royce Vavrek on forging a libretto from Lars von Trier

Royce Vavrek Tuesday, 20 August 2019

It was during the 1997 Golden Globe Awards telecast that I first caught a glimpse of the film that would change my life completely. Midway through the ceremony was featured a short clip of a paralysed man telling a young woman, his wife, to go and find another man to make love to.

theartsdesk in Dalarna: Rhinegold in a Swedish barn by a lake

David Nice Saturday, 27 July 2019

Anna Larsson's fellow Swedes can count themselves lucky that the worldwide first choice to sing Wagner's Erda and the midnight song in Mahler's Third Symphony has made so much of her Dalarna inheritance.

'A product not only of his era but also of his travels': Ian Page on Mozart's cosmopolitan education

Ian Page Monday, 08 July 2019

When Mozart was an established composer living in Vienna during the final years of his short life, a young student seemingly came to him to seek his advice. The would-be young composer said that he was planning to write a symphony, and asked Mozart what advice he could give to him. Mozart replied that a symphony was a complex undertaking, and suggested that the youngster should first write a few keyboard sonatas and string quartets before undertaking an orchestral work.

Franco Zeffirelli: 'I had this feeling that I was special'

Jasper Rees Saturday, 15 June 2019

"I am amazed to be still alive. Two hours of medieval torment.” Franco Zeffirelli - who has died at the age of 96 - had spent the day having a lumbar injection to treat a sciatic nerve. You could hear the bafflement in his heavily accented English.

First Person: Conductor Maxime Pascal on Stockhausen at the Southbank Centre

Maxime Pascal Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Stockhausen stands alongside Monteverdi and Beethoven as a composer who exploded the understanding of his art. Stockhausen deeply changed the relationship between space, time and music; there’s a human, intimate dimension to his composition, and he predicted the future.

In the spirit of the composer as innovator: Samir Savant on the London Handel Festival

Samir Savant Wednesday, 27 March 2019

This is my third year as festival director of the London Handel Festival, an annual celebration of the life and work of composer George Frideric Handel, which takes place every spring in venues across the capital.

'Bringing things to life is what opera is all about': Robert Howarth on a 'Magic Flute' with a difference

Robert Howarth Friday, 18 January 2019

I’m here in Leeds at the end of five weeks of quite intense rehearsals for Opera North's new production of Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Best of 2018: Opera

David Nice Wednesday, 26 December 2018

Outnumbered by four to one: out of the classical/opera team, Alexandra Coghlan, Jessica Duchen, David Benedict and...

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