The Classical Music Network (English) Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:29:10 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/ http://www.concertonet.com/images/concertonet.jpg http://www.concertonet.com/
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
(© Cory Weaver)


The Monkey King, by composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang, had its world premiere at San Francisco Opera on November 14. The production is spectacular—an imaginative fusion of Chinese opera’s distinctive makeup, masks, stylized singing, and gesture with the narrative and vocal traditions of Western opera. The work draws on the journey archetypes embedded in Mussorgsky, Vaughan Williams, and especially Wagner, yet The Monkey King feels like nothing you’ve seen or heard before.


Hwang and Huang Ruo are a proven team. Hwang has pared down and shaped the early ch]]>... Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17287
J. Pratt, R. Barbera (© Michele Monasta/Maggio Musicale Fiorentino)


Lucrezia Borgia, premiered in 1833, is considered by many as Donizetti’s best opera seria. Felice Romano’s excellent libretto is based on Victor Hugo’s Lucrèce Borgia, created earlier that same year. Hugo’s well‑written play certainly makes for an effective opera. Unusual for bel canto, Lucrezia Borgia has no love story. Rather, the central themes are friendship between Gennaro and Orsini, and the maternal love of Lucrezia for her son Gennaro. Rumored to have slept with her brother Cesare and her father Pope Alexander VI, t]]>... Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17284
(© Paula Lobo)


“El que come y canta, su mal espanta.” (“He who eats and sings scares away his woes.”)
Mexican proverb


“While composing Kauyumari, I noted once again how music has the power to grant us access to the intangible, healing our wounds and binding us to what can only be expressed through sound.”
Gabriela Ortiz


As the great composer Gabriela Ortiz intimated above, sound can become magical. And in this extraordinary hour of discovery, words, even words with no literal meaning can have the same effect.


To ce]]>... Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17271
A. Kobrin (© Alyona Vogelmann)


“I am really a living keyboard.”
Joseph Haydn


“I have been composing so much that it really seems uncanny at times. I cannot help it, and should like to sing myself to death, like a nightingale.”
Robert Schumann


New York this week is like a Slavic festival. On Wednesday, the Latvian classical accordionist Ksenija Sidorova played Bach, Albéniz and Schnittke. This weekend, Joshua Bell will play a violin concerto by the almost unknown Ukrainian Thom]]>... Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17268
(© Vito Lorusso/Teatro alla Scala)


Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte are masterworks that exemplify the perfect marriage of text and music. Of the three, Così is the epitome. One needn’t ask the eternal question: “Prima la musica o le parole?” on whether music or the text ought to predominate. Da Ponte’s brilliant text, at least equal to Mozart’s sublime music, requires a sextet of singers that can luxuriate in the beauty of the Italian language and give life to the natural grace and irony of the text. Alas, this is rarely the case outside of Italy. North of the Alps, matters ar]]>... Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17274
K. Sidorova/S. Voitenko (© John Kentish/Wikimedia Commons)


“Accordion, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.”
Ambrose Bierce


“Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas an accordion falling down a staircase can somehow capture an emotion much better.”
John Lydon


Until I heard Ksenija Sidorova, I loathed the accordion. The wheezy sound, the push‑pull of the bellows, even the shape. That was because I played the damned thing.


I performed in such hot‑spots as North Korea (in ]]>... Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17263
O. Jorjikia, C. Byrne, I. Samoilov (© Ros Kavanagh)


Of Puccini’s most frequently performed operas (Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot), Butterfly has fared most poorly over time, in terms of posterity. The “Orientalist” view of the victimized Asian girl was not considered patronizing at the time of the opera’s creation, but times have changed. Even after European countries lost their colonial empires in Africa and Asia, this outdated view prevailed for much of the second half of the twentieth century. The Korean and Vietnam Wars continued to confirm this]]>... Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17261
M. Mayes, C. Rice (© Manuel Harlan)


Dead Man Walking receives a full London production quite late in the day: premiered in 2000, the opera has had numerous outings worldwide and, unusually for a contemporary work, seems to be lasting the course. Much press surrounded the London performances, promising a galvanising emotional experience and the presentation of a set of moral dilemmas, literally about life and death, for us to chew over.


Seeing the opera for the first time, I have to admit that in both areas I was slightly underwhelmed. Jake Heggie’s music is skilled, well‑orchestrated, ton]]>... Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17288
B. Lubman/C. Czernowin (© Peter Serling/Wikipedia Commons)


“”The whole feeling of our existence now is very much a dusk. The horizon is shadowed and does not bode well. Yet... this can still move and create an opening for fragility that is connected to hope.”
Chaya Czernowin


The names of esteemed conductors immediately summon up measures of the works where they are associated. This is difficult with Brad Lubman. Yes, he knows the “standards”, the “top 20s”. But his genius is giving contemporary music a clarity, a control, and an emotional relationship to any audience.

... Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17245
J. Mamora (© Josafat Zemleduch)


“I am a moment illuminating eternity...I am affirmation...I am ecstasy.”
Alexander Scriabin


“My piano is to me what a ship is to the sailor, what a steed is to the Arab. It is the intimate personal depository of everything that stirred wildly in my brain during the most impassioned days of my youth. It was there that all my wishes, all my dreams, all my joys, and all my sorrows lay.”
Franz Liszt


Alexander Scriabin’s direction in his Fifth Sonata could partly characterize the piano personality of Jonathan M]]>... Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17239
S. Rivard (© OCM/Tam Photography)


The Orchestre Classique de Montréal celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of Johann Strauss (1825‑1899) with a concert featuring his music as well as some by Franz Lehár, who composed in the same genre. Needless to say, Die Fledermaus was prominently featured, specifically its overture and several arias and ensembles. The singers featured were resident artists of the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra de Montréal.


Despite most selected excerpts being the most familiar, Simon Rivard and his orchestra managed to give the music a fresh outlook. He also managed t]]>... Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17249
P. Jarvi, A. Pärt, Estonian Festival Orchestra (© Kaupo Kikkas)


“Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence comfort me. The silence must be longer. This music is about the silence. The sounds are there to surround the silence.”
Arvo Pärt


“I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.”
Arvo Pärt<]]>... Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17235
M. Jones, J. McCullough, I. Mustovoi, G. Clarke, S. Brady, J. Burnell, A. Khudaverdiyev, S. Tester, T. Guo, F. Razavi (© Pádraig Grant)


Rossini’s last Italian opera, Il viaggio a Reims, ossia l’albergo del giglio d’oro, was a ceremonial pièce d’occasion conceived for the coronation of France’s King Charles X, during the brief period of the restoration of the monarchy. First performed in 1825, Rossini, never expecting it to be played beyond its first four performances, later cannibalized much of it for his bittersweet comic opera Le Comte Ory.


The idea of restoring an ode to ]]>... Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17253
E. McCormack, M.E. Williams (center) with chorus
(© Jennifer Packard)


“Here lies Henry Purcell Esquire, who left life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded.”
Epitaph on Purcell’s obelisk


When first ascending to the ruins of Carthage in Tunisia, my mind was murmuring Berlioz’ Trojans. At the top amid the Carthage monuments, its graceful pillars, the wine‑dark Mediterranean Sea, the silhouette of Sicily in the background, the mind immediately morphed into Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.


Not init]]>... Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17228
D. Valdés Chenes, A. Saint‑Cirel (© Pádraig Grant)


British composer Frederick Delius (1862-1934) is not known for his operas, though some may have heard of Koanga (1904) and A Village Romeo and Juliet (1907). Still fewer would have ever had the opportunity of seeing these operas live. The most obscure of his operas is The Magic Fountain (1895), which was only ever performed posthumously. The three works have two things in common: they’re love stories (common enough in opera), and they take place in exotic locations. Koanga is about Afro‑American slaves in Louisiana; A Village Romeo a]]>... Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17285
C. Rochford, E. Gwilym (© Pádraig Grant)


Sadly, the operas of Zemlinsky are rarely performed, despite being powerful and musically rich. Luckily, one of his short operas was featured in this year’s edition of Ireland’s Wexford Festival of Opera as one of their “pocket operas”, which are either short operas without intermission, or works of short duration abridged to fit in ninety minute slots, also uninterrupted. Typically, four such operas are presented, in addition to three main ones, allowing one to see two pocket operas and one full‑length work per day – quite a generous offering.


Like]]>... Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17251
B. de Sá, S. Junker (© Pádraig Grant)


The biggest challenge today in producing Handel’s operas (and baroque opera in general) is that these works were written as vehicles for virtuoso singers. With Gluck’s reforms and the advent of Romanticism, the public’s taste changed. Beautiful voices were still admired, but they alone were no longer sufficient. Beyond emotions generated by impressive voices, some semblance of a plot, preferably with interesting pacing, was needed.


As many roles were written for castrati, the modern day revival of baroque operas started with the appearance of countertenors, such a]]>... Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17259
S. Richmond (© Pádraig Grant)


Carmen is unquestionably one of the most perfect operas ever composed. It features an inspired setting, a marvelous orchestration and brilliantly-conceived vocal parts, and, most of all, intense drama. It was highly‑admired by no less than Gustav Mahler, who championed the work while Director of the Vienna Court Opera. It’s thought of as an indestructible work, a glorious stage success no matter whose vision we are witnessing. Carmen herself could be interpreted by a mezzo or a soprano; dialogue can be spoken or sung; the opera could be set in Seville, as originally conceive]]>... Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17254
E. Niave, L. Grindatto (© Pádraig Grant)


Il trovatore is one of Verdi’s most enduring works. Melodically rich, it’s built on the foundation of four great roles: Manrico, the Troubadour, a tenor; Leonora, a soprano; the gypsy Azucena, a mezzo; and il Conte di Luna, a baritone. The arias, duets and trios written for these voices eclipse much of Verdi’s previous operatic output. At the time Verdi composed it, Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791‑1864) reigned supreme over Paris. Verdi’s style, though original and unique, had its roots in Donizetti, and was later heavily influenced by Meyerbeer. Unlike Donizetti and other be]]>... Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17286
J. D. Florez, J. Fuchs, P. Spagnoli
(© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


Arguably the weakest opera of Donizetti’s mature period, La Fille du régiment (1840) is bereft of the comedic and musical brilliance of his comedies L’elisir d’amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843). Poorly received by critics – including Berlioz – at its Paris premiere, the work did however enjoy measured success thanks to various sopranos in the title role of Marie, including Jenny Lind (1820‑1877), Henriette Sontag (1806‑1854), Adelina Patti (1843‑1919), Marcella Sembrich (1858‑1935), Luisa Tetrazzi]]>... Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17266
V. Gorbunova (© Pádraig Grant)


One of the four “Factory Operas” given by the Wexford Festival of Opera, Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, elicited doubts as to how it could be abridged to fit Wexford’s criteria: that it should last no more than ninety minutes; that it mustn’t have an intermission; that all roles are to be assumed only by current or former singers of the Wexford Factory program for young singers; and that it would be presented with piano (rather than orchestral) accompaniment.


Happily, my own fears were unfounded, and the experience was delightful. Firstly, the young]]>... Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17260
Sphinx Virtuosi (© Scott Jackson)


“Music of our time is granted little opportunity for glorification or flooding people with illumination. The flames of Hiroshima have gone beyond all that.”
Hans Werner Henze


“... with an eye made quiet by the power/
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,/
We see into the life of things.”
William Wordsworth, Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey


The title “Sphinx Virtuosi” is as deceiving as the Egyptian monster himself. Nothing is enigmatic or puzzling or riddle‑like about th]]>... Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17223
M. Lindsay, D. Williams (© Bruce Zinger)


Perhaps in the minority, I haven’t been a fan of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for years. I certainly acknowledge its music is sublime, with several of its arias among the most memorable in opera, but Schikaneder’s libretto is problematic. It’s further complicated by directors revering it as one of the noblest works ever. Worse, they interpret Act II’s notorious Masonic rites as something sacred.


Since my initial exposure to Die Zauberflöte in my late teens, I’ve found the argument nonsensical and the Masonic rites puerile. I couldn’t understand how Sa]]>... Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17234
B. Liatoshynsky/L. Botstein (© Bard)



“A composer whose voice does not read the heart of the nation has less than no value. I always felt myself to be a national composer in the fullest sense of the word, and I will remain a national composer, proving this not through words but deeds!”
Boris Liatoshynsky


“Orchestration is part of the very soul of the work. A work is thought out in terms of the orchestra, certain tone-colors being inseparable from it in the mind of its creator and native to it from the hour of its birth.”
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

... Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17217