Opera Features
The Seckerson Tapes: Melody Moore InterviewMonday, 13 September 2010
Melody Moore is well named. Her parents must have had a sixth sense that she would be "melodious". This exciting young American soprano has been making waves on both sides of the Atlantic. She has established footholds at both San Francisco and Los Angeles Opera and in the 2008/9 season made her English National Opera debut in Jonathan Miller's new production of La bohème. She returns to the ENO this season as Marguerite in Des McAnuff's new staging of Gounod's Faust, a...
Read more...
|
theartsdesk in Berlin: Requiem for a Shaker-UpperSaturday, 28 August 2010
It is tempting to playfully twist the German language a little to come up with a word that best describes the avant garde German theatre and film director Christoph Schlingensief. A “Wachrüttler”, literally a shaker-upper or rouser, is probably the best title to describe a man who seemed to put every vein and sinew of his body into shaking German society awake. The loss of Schlingensief, who died of lung cancer last Saturday aged 49, has left a gaping hole in the German arts world. |
Remembering Charles MackerrasWednesday, 21 July 2010
Perhaps we can drop the "sir" here, as he preferred, though most of the contributors below only knew him in his knighted later years. No death of a musical great, at least since the departure of Mstislav Rostropovich, has caused such a flurry of tributes and reminiscences, even if many of us were long prepared for the end and marvelled at the way he soldiered on to give more great performances in his final year. Tributes from Kit Armstrong, Isobel Buchanan, Colin Currie, ... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Buxton: The Buxton FestivalSunday, 18 July 2010
As I alight from the train at Macclesfield and scramble into the back of the taxi which will take me on the 20-minute journey across the Pennines to Buxton and its eponymous festival, the driver announces with grim satisfaction, “I am now going to take you on one of the most dangerous roads in Britain.” Read more... |
UK Festivals 2010 Round-UpTuesday, 06 July 2010
Get your tent and ice-box and plan your summer's entertainment with theartsdesk's definitive clickable festival guide - listings and links for all the UK festivals this summer, from heavy rock by Scottish lochs to Morris-dancing in the south west, and taking on opera, classical and major international arts festivals for good measure. Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Christophe Rousset InterviewMonday, 05 July 2010
The apartment is shared with a Burmese cat named Hermione and two no less exquisite and venerable harpsichords.
Read more...
|
The Seckerson Tapes: Edward Gardner InterviewSunday, 20 June 2010
Edward Gardner is no longer English National Opera's best kept secret. The former choral scholar and repetiteur goes from strength to strength helming ENO through productive and interesting times. The world's stages are now beckoning. During a break in final rehearsals for Mozart's great opera seria Idomeneo in a new production from multi-media queen Katie Mitchell he talks informally about what being music director of a company like this entails.
Read more...
|
theartsdesk in Toronto: Luminato Hosts Wainwright and MalkovichSunday, 20 June 2010
To get a feel for whether an arts festival has truly penetrated a city’s psyche, it helps to strike up a conversation with local Starbucks baristas. That’s why I was grateful to be asked one recent evening in Toronto, “So what exactly is Luminato?”As the green-aproned server handed me a post-show cup of tea, I thought, good question: what is Luminato? Four years after the festival’s founding, it seems many Toronto residents remain unsure. I explained that it’s an arts festival with many... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Finishing Mozart's Unfinished OperaMonday, 07 June 2010
The Classical Opera Company does exactly what it says on the tin and over the last few years has refreshed parts of the repertoire and corners of the nation that their bigger and more illustrious counterparts never reach. Conductor and artistic director Ian Page talks about questions of style, untapped repertoire and major restorations, like the company's recent staging of Thomas Arne's Artexerxes and its current labour of love rebuilding Mozart's unfinished opera Zaide....
Read more...
|
The Seckerson Tapes: Sarah Connolly InterviewSaturday, 15 May 2010
Acclaimed British mezzo Sarah Connolly prepares for the title role in Donizetti's battle royal of rival queens Maria Stuarda. Her return to Opera North in the bel cantorole of her choice will be one of the highlights of the UK opera season and in this revealing podcast she gives fascinating insight into her extensive preparation and "anatomisation" of the roles she performs - right down to the fine detailing here of Mary's temperament and bearing, and even her height.... Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take an annual subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today
CD: Tanya Tucker - While I'm Livin'
When Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin released the former’s stripped back, soul-bearing American Recordings in 1994 the impact was massive. Not...
Edinburgh International Festival 2019: Breaking the Waves, S...
Love him or hate him, Lars von Trier has time and again made the unpalatable and the improbable real and shatteringly moving in a succession of...
Power, politics and Peaky Blinders - the Shelby family retur...
This is how Steven Knight pictured Peaky...
Bauhaus 100, BBC Four review - a well-made film about the ma...
The Bauhaus school and its subsequent influence make an extraordinary story, and this...
Eels, Hammersmith Apollo review – dark, swampy and endlessly...
"Would you mind if I jammed on my new... castanets?" We’re halfway through Eels’ triumphant set at Hammersmith's...
CD: Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold
This album’s title began as a reaction to fractiousness under...
Heartbreak Holiday, BBC One review - can it match up to Love...
The BBC’s version of Love Island has familiar ingredients:...
Pain and Glory review - masterful meditation on age and art
The Almodovar who made his name as an all-out provocateur in the Eighties considers that wild art’s becalmed far...
The Doctor, Almeida Theatre review - Robert Icke's long...
After six years, associate director Robert Icke bids farewell to the...