WordPress tells me that the first draft of this post is from January; I have started and stopped editing the same post again and again, every time feeling just as uninspired. It wasn’t that I wasn’t doing things – I was – it just was that I had little to say about them, no words … More Lately
another year, another Connolly Fest done – every year around October or so, there’s a blurry of Dame Sarah related activity. This year was a near repeat of the last – Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in London and a Lieder Festival concert in Oxford – with an added bonus of an opera, Wagner’s … More Lately
It’s been raining endlessly, the Easter holidays a complete washout of miserably cold, dark, wet days, and delayed spring. I saw the Old Vic production of Fanny and Alexander again at the end of March, somewhat late into the run. As said before, I like seeing plays both during the previews and after the first … More Lately
Here’s a quick round-up of some things that have been happening this month. Culture-wise this is promising to be a good year – I have tickets booked to hear the OAE play some Beethoven with Marin Alsop, Stephen Beresford’s adaptation of Fanny and Alexander starring Penelope Wilton opens for previews in February, later in the … More New Year’s things
It’s been a while. In fact, it’s been a whole month since I even looked at this blog. I haven’t gone away though – it just so happens that December is always rather busy. And I’m good at wasting time – for example, I spent one whole weekend painting Nutcracker illustrations, with results that I … More This year
The Otello at the ROH is proper Big Event Opera – the most famous, revered singer of his generation making his debut in one of the biggest roles in the repertoire. The announcement of Jonas Kaufmann in this production set off months of internet frenzy, many people fearing or expecting (and some, I’m sure, even … More Tonight at the opera: Shakespeare edition, vol. 2
I have a thing for 20th/21st century opera – the first opera I consciously remember choosing to see was Giancarlo Menotti’s The Consul, and I have found myself loving Turnage’s Anna Nicole, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and pretty much everything by Benjamin Britten. Thomas Adés’ The Exterminating Angel (which premiered last year in Salzburg Festspiele, … More Last night at the opera
On Friday week ago I went to London to do two things – to see the pre-Raphaelite paintings in Tate Britain, and to hear Angela Gheorghiu sing. I have been reading Kathryn Hughes’ book Victorians Undone, and was in the middle of the chapter on Fanny Cornforth, one-time or the other the model, muse, lover, … More Tonight at the opera
New year, new-ish season. I had originally decided against booking Der Rosenkavalier – it was too close to Christmas holiday etc. But as the ROH public booking opened, I ended up grabbing a £20 standing ticket to what turned out to be Renee Fleming’s farewell performance at the Royal Opera (she will retire from the … More Der Rosenkavalier
I made several attempts at getting everything I saw in one mosaic. Turns out that I don’t have an pictures from the Ariadne auf Naxos I saw in the spring, and only a curtain photo of Boris Godunov. And quite possibly nothing at all from Nabucco (either that, or I’m blind). The two recitals that … More It was a very good year. In some respects.
Shakespeare for absolute beginners 