The Classical Music Network (English) Thu, 08 Jan 2026 04:19:36 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/ http://www.concertonet.com/images/concertonet.jpg http://www.concertonet.com/
L. Stefan, V. Tsiatsianis (© Hassan Rifaat)


I’ll always remember the first time I attended this popular event over two decades ago. New Year’s Eve at the Cairo Opera House has long been an incontournable, a “must‑see” event on everyone’s social calendar in this bustling city of 23 million inhabitants. As is now tradition, the evening is dominated by the music of Johann Strauss, whose waltzes and polkas are synonymous with this winter evening welcoming a fresh start to the calendar.


The concert takes place in the imposing Opera House, beautifully decorated for Yuletide; one is in a festive]]>... Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17385
(© Ossama el Naggar)


Throughout much of the world, the festive season means time off work and school, Christmas trees, family time, crowded markets and frenzied shopping. Musically, it’s accompanied by the strains of Handel’s Messiah and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Though not part of the European continent, and only 10‑15% Christian (and mostly Eastern Orthodox at that), in Egypt, with its population of 119 million, the festive season is welcomed with unabated enthusiasm. For those in Cairo, the country’s capital of 23 million inhabitants, Christmas has long been associated with The Nutcracker<]]>... Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17376
T. Andrijashenko, N. Manni (© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


The Sleeping Beauty (1890), the second of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets, is much less frequently performed than Swan Lake (1877) and The Nutcracker (1892). It’s also the most “French” of the three; the other two take place in Germany and The Nutcracker is based on Nussknacker und Mausekönig (1816), a tale by German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1766‑1822).


Prince Ivan Alexandrovitch Vsevolojsky (1835‑1909), Director of the Imperial Theatres and an ardent Francophile, is said to have specifically c]]>... Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17375
G. Kunde, L. Fridman (© Gianni Cravedi)


While at least six of Verdi’s operas are universally acclaimed, much of his earlier output is generally spotty. Some, such as Oberto (1839), Un giorno di regno (1840) and Alzira (1845) are completely forgettable, but two, Ernani (1844) and Macbeth (1847), are masterpieces. Composed between Luisa Miller (1849) and his huge success Rigoletto (1851), Stiffelio (1850) is from the composer’s middle period. Despite some beautiful arias and several memorable scenes, it compares unfavourably with the master’s other works of the peri]]>... Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17374
Attacca String Quartet (© David Goddard)


“Having music in the schools, having art in the schools, having art in your life, should not be heroic. It should be every day. Having things we’ve paid for years ago and that we depend on kept up–our schools, our political institutions–should not be a heroic act. It should be part of our daily citizenship.”
David Lang


“Folk melodies are the embodiment of an artistic perfection of the highest order; in fact, they are models of the way in which a musical idea can be expressed with utmost perfection in terms of brevity of form and simplici]]>... Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17358
(© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


For music lovers in the Anglosphere, Handel’s Messiah is synonymous with Christmas festivities. This is not necessarily the case elsewhere. Therefore it was surprising to see this monumental oratorio programmed as part of La Scala’s “Guest Orchestra” series. Not surprisingly, a healthy contingent of the audience were British and American expats. For once, English was more widely heard than Russian, French or German. However, a good deal of the audience were lovers of early music, purveyors of which are conductor Christophe Rousset, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque s]]>... Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17378
(© Luciano Romano)


As a frequent traveller voyaging specifically for the love of opera, I optimize my time to see as many favourites as possible, in places that appeal most; Venice, Rome, Paris, Vienna and Madrid are but five preferred locations. For favourites or rarities, I’ll happily make an effort to travel even further afield.


With this in mind, I was delighted to learn that Naples, with its immense beauty and rich history, had programmed two compelling works, Medea and Partenope. The former, by Cherubini, wa]]>... Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17363
R. Ratoi (© Efremoff Studio)


“... the vile belchings of a lunatic accordion”
Arthur Honegger


“This program is a statement of my belief in the accordion’s boundless potential and my passion for elevating its voice on the concert stage.”
Radu Ratoi


Accordion-antagonists would look at the last four weeks in New York like malarial mosquitos.


Last month, Weill Recital Hall presented the Latvian virtuoso Ksenija Sidorova. Last night, Merkin Concert Hall ]]>... Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17344
S. Jakubiak (© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


This season opening was one of the most spectacular inaugurations in La Scala’s history. Instead of a typical nineteenth century Italian opera, a monumental twentieth century Russian masterpiece unveiled the season. It was also notable for being Riccardo Chailly’s last as La Scala’s artistic director. With such a rich work at hand, Chailly and his orchestra didn’t shy from the score’s extremes of lyricism and brutality. Of what Stalin allegedly called “chaos rather than music”, La Scala’s forces drew out magnificently luminous sounds, with a brass band delivering biting sa]]>... Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17369
S. Radvanovsky (© Luciano Romano)


Premièred in Paris in 1797, Cherubini’s Médée was originally written in the language of Molière, and set to a libretto based on Euripides’ play from Greek Antiquity. At its première, the work was tepidly received and mostly forgotten for a hundred and fifty years, until Maria Callas single‑handedly revived its Italian version as a vehicle for her dramatic talent. That version, a 1909 translation of a German version (1855) with sung recitatives by Franz Lachner (1803‑1890), is more condensed than the French original, with a reduced presence for roles other than the pr]]>... Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17348
E. Jaho (© BBC Opera Rara/Russell Duncan)


An Opera Rara concert of Puccini’s not‑so‑loved opera at the Barbican Hall proved to be that rara avis, the perfect performance. La rondine had a shaky start in life: it was originally devised for Vienna but war put paid to that idea. Then Puccini’s publisher Ricordi wasn’t interested in it and although its eventual 1917 premiere in Monte‑Carlo was a success, it didn’t lead anywhere. The composer tinkered with it and created a second version that did make to Vienna in 1920, but obviously not satisfied he ploughed on and completed a third version in 19]]>... Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17334
W. Christie (© Richard Termine)


“Baroque music is a celebration of the beauty and diversity of the human experience.”
William Christie


“How greatly did I weep in thy hymns and canticles, deeply moved by the voices of thy sweet‑speaking church.”
St. Augustine


Had not the vile jealous Italian Jean-Baptiste Lully keep Charpentier away from Louis XIV, we would almost be singing the French composer’s magnificats as the most important composer of the French Baroque. (I say “almost” because nobody reading this should start singing af]]>... Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17331
(© Andrea Butti)


Despite being, according to many aficionados, the greatest bel canto opera ever, I puritani (1835) is today rarely performed due to the difficulty in assembling the required singers. This makes it all the more astounding that Cremona, a city of less than 100,000 inhabitants, would offer such a demanding work. This is possible thanks to OperaLombardia, an association joining creative teams in five cities in the regions of Lombardia, Brescia, Pavia, Cremona, Como and Bergamo. Through this brilliant initiative, these smaller cities, with populations between 100,000 and 250,000, synchronize t]]>... Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17333
D. Creciun (© Fabrizio Sansoni/Teatro dell’Opera di Roma)


Delibes’s Coppélia (1870) is a pivotal work of ballet. It was the last great French ballet, though Delibes wrote one other successful ballet, Sylvia (1876). Soon after, the great dancers of Italy and France started flocking to Saint‑Petersburg and Moscow, where they found better pay and conditions. Moreover, with Austrian immigré Ludwig Minkus (1826‑1917) and later Tchaikovsky (1850‑1893) in their midst, there was plenty of ballet creation and performance in Russia.


Some think of Coppélia as jinxed. It prem]]>... Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17341
(© Photo Studio U.V./Courtesy Donizetti Opera/Fondazione Teatro Donizetti)


The British label Opera Rara is preparing an important but neglected part of Donizetti’s prodigious output: his songs. Already several volumes have been released or announced; they feature such major artists as tenors Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Spyres, baritone Nicola Alaimo, soprano Ermonela Jaho and contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Donizetti wrote over two hundred songs, yet few are known, even to bel canto and Donizetti lovers.


The singers at Bottega Donizetti, a training program for young artists, gave a concert presenting o]]>... Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17336
S. Denève/J.-Y. Thibaudet (© Jessica Griffin/Elisabeth Caren)


“I grew up in an atmosphere rich in folk music: popular festivities, rites, joyous and sad events in the life of the people always accompanied by music, the vivid tunes of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian songs and dances performed by folk bards [ashugs] and musicians such were the impressions that became deeply engraved on my memory, that determined my musical thinking.”
Aram Khatchaturian


“As a child, I lived in ancient Greece. The book of myths was my favorite and the world of jealous gods and god‑like hum]]>... Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17311
J. Holloway, D. Korchak (©  Fabrizio Sansoni/Opera di Roma)


When one experiences a catastrophic opera, it takes a superlative staging to cancel the unfortunate experience. Having endured a dreadful Lohengrin this past August in Bayreuth, Yuval Sharon’s atrocious debacle that featured Elsa and the people of Brabant as moths, a serious purge was badly needed. Damiano Michieletto to the rescue!


Michieletto is possibly the opera world’s most brilliant director, as demonstrated by his superlative productions of ... Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17342
M. A. Henry, K. Karnéus (© Vivien Gaumand)


Jenůfa was Janácek’s third opera and his first operatic triumph. Son of a schoolteacher from the region of Moravia, young Leos’ musical talent convinced his father to allow him a musical career. Never a conformist, he was by all accounts a gifted though perturbed student at the Brno Conservatory, and later the Leipzig Conservatory. An enfant terrible, he wrote a scathing review of his teacher’s conducting at the Brno Conservatory, which got him expelled (his teacher later relented, allowing his return). Later in life, another virulent review of an opera by Czech ]]>... Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17316
A. Rodriguez/V. Peterson (© San Francisco Opera/Courtesy of the artist)


“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong. The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations And Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights and previleges.”
George Washington


“Immigration keeps this country young, it keeps it dynamic, we have entrepreneurs and strivers who come h]]>... Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17298
A. Hadelich/D. Slobodeniouk (© Suxiao Yang/Elisardojm)


“Most composers bore me because most composers are boring.”
Samuel Barber


“I have always been interested in ritualistic and primeval things.”
Sebastian Fagerlund


The New York Philharmonic went totally retro this week, virtually anachronistic. And I loved every minute.


Here was music from Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund’s Stonework written 60 years after Boulez’ dodecaphonia. And Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, an update of the (then) 70]]>... Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17300
G. Benjamin/P.-L. Aimard (© Matthew Lloyd/Marco Borggreve)


“Music is a labyrinth with no beginning and no end, full of new paths to discover, where mystery remains eternal.”
Pierre Boulez


“"Suffering furiously", "whistling", "suffering, regretting with a harsh voice", "with an insane smile", "enthusiastically threatening", "with malignancy"”
Typical score directions, by Nikolai Obukhov


New York’s immense Nikolai Obukhov Fan Club turned out in force last night at the 92nd St Y. Or perhaps... just peut‑être, the blue‑ribbon aud]]>... Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17291
(© Studio U.V./Donizetti Opera - Fondazione Teatro Donizetti)


Il furioso all’isola di Santo Domingo could be described as an unexpectedly joyous surprise. Considering this unusual opera’s strange story, one expected an oddity of merely academic interest. However, in the end it was easily the most interesting work presented at this year’s Donizetti Festival.


Created in 1833, a mere six months after L’elisir d’amore (1832) and almost a year before his finest opera, Lucrezia Borgia (1833), Il furioso all’isola di Santo Domingo is almost as musically rich as these. At the time ]]>... Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17329
Brandenburg Ensemble (© Doug A. Pupp)


“I have in accordance with Your Highness’s most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments; begging Your Highness most humbly not to judge their imperfection with the rigor of that discriminating and sensitive taste, which everyone knows Him to have for musical works, but rather to take into benign Consideration the profound respect and the most humble obedience which I thus attempt to show Him.”
J.S. Bach in dedication of his Brandenburg Concert]]>... Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17282
(© Studio U.V./Courtesy Donizetti Opera - Fondazione Teatro Donizetti)


Founded in 1981, the Donizetti Festival, which takes place each November in Bergamo, the composer’s native city north east of Milan, revives many of the bel canto composer’s more obscure operas while reestablishing his better known works in definitive editions. One of the performances at this year’s edition was a double bill of two one‑act works, Il campanello (1836) and Deux hommes et une femme (1841).


Both short operas are bittersweet comedies involving matrimonial complications. Though the former takes]]>... Sat, 15 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17323
(© Studio U.V./Courtesy Donizetti Opera - Fondazione Teatro Donizetti)


Despite being in my estimation one of Donizetti’s finest operas, Caterina Cornaro (1844) is now rarely performed. In the second half of the twentieth century, it was a vehicle for two great sopranos, Spain’s Montserrat Caballé (1933‑2018) and Turkey’s Leyla Gencer (1928‑2008), both of whose 1970s live recordings are legendary. Given their excellence, Caterina Cornaro has acquired a reputation as one of Donizetti’s best works. As it’s so rarely performed, Bergamo’s production was eagerly awaited by bel canto lovers.
]]>... Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17322