| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 31-May-2012 De Doelen: Grote Zaal | Ravel's nostalgic fun in L'enfant et les sortilèges at Rotterdam |
 Classical music is often portayed as being very serious, which is part of what makes it seem inaccessible at times. But this is a mistake: there are plenty of pieces that are, in a word, fun. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Rotterdam’s beloved principal conductor, delivered a Ravel performance which was just this, emphasizing a childlike pleasure while still ensuring that the beauty of Ravel’s opera L’enfant et les sortilèges was not underappreciated.
Read full review... | |
| 28-Apr-2012 Theater an der Wien | Olivier Py’s uncertain Hamlet |
 Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet has riled and infuriated ever since its 1868 première, though for many it is merely an object of derision: one 1869 correspondent to the satirical magazine Punch admits not having seen the work but nevertheless disparages it as ‘Omelette’, a musical ‘burlesque’, and pillories Thomas’s fondness for drinking songs with the lines ‘To drink or not to drink?Read full review... | |
