| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 15-Dec-2012 Holy Trinity Cathedral | Festive fare from the Auckland Philharmonia |
 For this Christmas concert we were transported from the Auckland Philharmonia’s usual venue at the Auckland Town Hall to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell. It was interesting to compare the sound of the orchestra; the cathedral has a slight echo that seemed to boost the richness of the orchestra’s sound, at times (like at the climax of Bizet’s Farandole) becoming almost shockingly loud. The orchestra treated us to a potpourri of seasonal pieces, most well-known but some unfamiliar.Read full review... | |
| 26-Oct-2012 Holywell Music Room | French song from Alice Coote and Julius Drake at the Oxford Lieder Festival |
 Drawing names such as Sarah Connolly and Dame Felicity Lott to the dreaming spires, the Oxford Lieder Festival has defined itself as a leading musical exponent on an international level. It was fitting, then, that Alice Coote and Julius Drake should open the final weekend of the eleventh festival. Ranging from the romanticism of Berlioz to Poulenc’s sardonic humour, the recital encompassed an eclectic mix of French repertoire from the late 19th century into the early 20th. I was interested to see what Coote and Drake would bring to the programme.
Read full review... | |
| 19-Oct-2012 Leeds Grand Theatre | Opera North's Faust at Leeds Grand Theatre |
 The set for this Faust is a series of blank screens, which slide about quickly and frequently, tall canvases for constantly changing images provided by Berlin-based video artist Lillevan. This, along with large white cubes which become boxes for Marguerite’s jewels and for the extracted hearts collected by Méphistophélès, make it seem as if the whole thing is part of an elaborate installation, spellbinding in itself. It would not be out of place in Tate Modern.Read full review... | |
| 2-Oct-2012 Barbican Centre: Hall | Elina Garanča thrills in concert at the Barbican |
 As crowd-pulling operatic divas go, most of the attention goes to the sopranos. But a select number of mezzos have the same kind of following, and Latvia's Elina Garanča is high on that list. There are just a few roles where the mezzo is the main character of the opera (many of the others are "witches and bitches", as Garanča puts it), and the big one of those is Carmen.Read full review... | |
