The Classical Music Network (English) Sat, 28 Mar 2026 10:56:26 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/ http://www.concertonet.com/images/concertonet.jpg http://www.concertonet.com/
L. Oropesa (© Scott McIntyre)


A full moon shone over Palm Beach on March 2, as Palm Beach Opera’s growing roster of generous supporters gathered for a sumptuous evening of cocktails, dinner, dancing, and a recital by the noted soprano Lisette Oropesa, who appeared between engagements at New York’s struggling Metropolitan Opera. Past galas here have featured Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, and, last season, even the controversial Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who despite mild protests and some disapproving media returned to performance in the North America for the first time since 2019, after which political issues around t]]>... Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17512
L. Lang, A. Nelsons (© Niu Er Art/Marco Borggreve)


“With maturity comes the wish to economize - to be more simple. Maturity is the period when one finds the just measure.”
Béla Bartók


“Destiny smiles upon me but without making me the least bit happier.”
Gustav Mahler


Carnegie Hall’s festival of orchestras is like Béla Bartók’s “Game of Twos” from his Concerto for Orchestra. So far, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic’s first evening paired t]]>... Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17494
K. Mäkelä (© Todd Rosenberg/CSO Principal Photographer)


“The climax of everything that is ugly, cacophonous, blatant and erratic, the most perverse music I have ever heard, is Ein Heldenleben’s “Battlefield”. The man who wrote this is either a lunatic or he is rapidly approaching idiocy.”
The Musical Courier, 1899


“I’m not a hero: I am not made for combat. Yet I am no less interesting than Napoleon himself.”
Richard Strauss


Successful conductors are appropriately, inevitably an egotistical lot. But when the young musical director-conduc]]>... Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17491
B. Liu (© Christopher Koestlin)


“All these cultures surrounding me have a great impact on me. Chinese would be the traditional side. I feel like the history of Chinese culture, Confucianism and Taoism, is in my blood. I grew up in Canada, so I’m also heavily influenced by the openness and dynamism of North America. I have ties with Europe through my work, and from European culture, I like to take historical refinement.”
Bruce Liu


Were Bruce Lee to program a five‑hour concert solely with études–Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Ligeti, even Czerny–I would jump on my Fire Horse, gallop through ]]>... Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17484
D. Renzetti (© Opera Carlo Felice)


Based on Lord Byron’s 1817 poem of the same name, the Overture to Schumann’s Manfred is the most‑performed segment of this incidental music, effectively conveying the torment of Byron’s hero. Premiered in 1852, it was composed at a time when Schumann suffered from auditory hallucinations. The composer clearly identified with Byron’s Romantic hero, an amoral but troubled protagonist evocative of Don Juan in his defiance of the Creator, even in his last moments. Conductor Donato Renzetti deftly channeled the anguish in Schumann’s music, yet opted for poise rather than excess. By]]>... Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17527
G. Kurtág/J. Milarsky(© BBVA/Peter Konerko)


“Everything that lives is in flux. Everything that lives emits sound. But we only perceive a part of it. We do not hear the circulation of the blood, the growth and decay of our bodily tissue, the sound of our chemical processes. They vibrate in response to their environment. This is the foundation of the power of music. We can set free these profound emotional vibrations. In order to do so, we employ musical instruments, in which the decisive factor is their own inner sound potential. That is to say: what is decisive is not the strength of the sound, or its tonal colour]]>... Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17479
V. Werklé, N. Sierra, L. Tézier (© Montserrat Boix)


As Nadine Sierra walked out onto the stage of the Liceu, over two thousand people sighed and fell in love. The cocktail dress, (gold and silver sequined tulle over white silk), the strappy heels, (Louboutin?), and best of all the smile. Or is that The Smile? People in the far reaches of the theatre, almost hanging from the ceiling – and in the Liceu that really is possible, there’s a seat in every nook and cranny – palpably melted under the sheer wattage of Sierra’s radiant beam.


It is just as well that Sierra can follow it up with a stunning soprano]]>... Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17481
V. Berzhanskaya (© Roberto Ricci)


I became intrigued by Vasilisa Berzhanskaya six years ago after hearing her as Rosina in a production of Il barbiere di Siviglia in Florence, and was struck by her acting and singing. I wasn’t certain if I was hearing the standard version with a mezzo Rosina, or the less frequently performed soprano version. Berzhanskaya’s timbre was distinctly mezzo, but her dazzling coloratura and agility were more typically soprano. Two years later, the Russian singer changed my mind about a role I normally detest, that of ]]>... Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17526
J. J. Orlinski, F. Corti, S. Devieilhe (© Toni Bofill)


Inaugurated in 1908, the Palau de la Musica Catalana, designed by Catalan architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1849‑1923), is one of the world’s great concert halls. It presents music throughout the year, welcoming some of the world’s most renowned artists, while also hosting local companies in popular operas aimed at a broader, less rarefied audience than that of Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In addition, it features concert performances by touring ensembles—such as this evening’s event.


Giulio Cesare (1724) is Handel’s most fa]]>... Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17475
T. Unger, M. Owens (© Marcello Orselli)


Tristan und Isolde is a colossal work, not only for its length (five hours, including two intermissions) or for the effect the famous Tristan chord had on Western music, but also for the symbolism it represents. Wagner was hugely influenced by Schopenhauer’s philosophy when he wrote this masterpiece. He was also leading an illicit affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, wife of his benefactor, Swiss businessman Otto von Wesendonck.


In Mascagni’s rarely-performed opera Nerone, one character says “Se amor non uccide, amor non è” (“If love doesn’t kill, it’s]]>... Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17510
J. A. López, M. Marín (© Javier del Real/Teatro Real)


Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is famously Norway’s greatest playwright. While Freud placed him on par with Shakespeare and Sophocles, the great George Bernard Shaw (1856‑1950) considered him superior to Shakespeare. His influence on Shaw, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde was huge. His most notable works are Brand (1865), Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll’s House (1869), Ghosts (1881), An Enemy of the People (1882), The Wild Duck (1881), Romersholm (1886) and Hedda Gabler (1890). Unlike Shakespeare, Schiller or Hugo, the plays of]]>... Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17482
I. Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra (© Akos Stiller)


“That which draws us by its mystical force; what every created thing, even the very stones, feels with absolute certainty as the center of its being... is the force of love. Christians call this ‘eternal blessedness.’ It is a necessity of man for growth and joy.”
Gustav Mahler


“I’m a passionate European because I think the idea that this continent, where countries finally found peace with each other, should become an integrated family is far more important than small considerations that keep nations separate. For 70 years ]]>... Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17454
(© James Glossop)


Phelim McDermott’s production of Così fan tutte, shared with the Met, is a fun show that gets off to a joyous start. A circus box is wheeled in front of the gold lame curtain and a succession of fairground characters emerge one by one: a sword swallower, strong man, drag queen, contortionist, the tallest and shortest people imaginable. We are in Coney Island in the 1950s, where the two young couples are on holiday – sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, and friends Ferrando and Guglielmo, who are dating them. Despina is a chambermaid, but who Don Alfonso is remains unclear.


The pr]]>... Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17467
A. Stundytė (© Frédéric Iovino)


The son of a schoolteacher in the region of Moravia, Janácek’s obvious musical talent convinced his father to allow him to pursue 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 composer Karel Kovarovic gained him the latter’s everlasting enmit]]>... Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17464
The Knights (© Shervin Lainez)


“Vitality, Love and Attention. Somebody said that true love is attention. ‘Love-is-Attention’ is what connects Haydn and Van Gogh. That concentrated attention that unveils new and new dimensions in what we all see and hear, but, many times, we fail to notice until they notice. And they invite us to notice too.”
Osvaldo Golijov, On Ever Yours


Should President What’s-His-Name sign yet another Executive Order, let us pray it commands performers of Mendelssohn’s Octet to play that finale with all the vibrating, tingling, quavers and q]]>... Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17442
K. F. Vogt, C. Nylund (© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


Ever since David McVicar’s staging of Das Rheingold, I’ve been hooked on La Scala’s Ring. Living in North America, three more trips were organized to ensure I’d see the Scotsman’s three subsequent installments. Of all Ring cycles I’ve experienced, this one is the most visually appealing, and with the finest cast. McVicar is reputedly a conventional choice compared to more adventurous directors, but his work is inevitably visually appealing, straightforward and without ]]>... Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17477
D. Rohr, P. Gryniewicki (© Matthias Baus für das Theater Koblenz)


French operas of the nineteenth century were once among the most popular in the repertoire, but in the last half century, they’ve fallen out of fashion. One reason is the dearth of national singing schools, especially French ones, in our globalized opera world. Without an understanding of the French style, and without the required elegance and clear diction, experiencing these operas can be painful, replete as they are with dated mannerisms and utterly lacking in style.


Luckily, there have been singers over the years – though few native]]>... Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17452
L. Chavez, C. Gotimer, E. Solís (© Eric Waters)


Opera is, historically speaking, comprised of disparate elements: a large part, spectacle; another, vocal; and another still, that of memory, both traditional as well as anecdotal.


One such famous—and oft-quoted—bit of operatic lore details the genesis of Giacomo Puccini’s ever‑popular Madama Butterfly.


In London for the 1900 British premiere of his newest work, Tosca, the composer, always on the lookout for his next libretto, found it in a stage production of David Belasco’s play Madame Butterfly.
]]>... Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17435
(© Monika Rittershaus)


In the early years of the twentieth century, Gustave Charpentier (1860‑1956) seemed destined to be one of France’s leading composers. His opera Louise (1900) was widely acclaimed, especially in France, where it was performed over a hundred times in its first year, and five hundred times by 1921 at l’Opéra‑Comique, the venue which saw its debut. Like many who reach glory too early and too abruptly, the enormous success of his opera seemed to paralyze the composer. His much‑anticipated sequel, Julien, ou La vie du poète (1913), with Louise’s lover as protagonist, flopped.]]>... Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17465
L. O. Andsnes (© Helge Hansen/Sony Music Entertainment)


“Music fills my everyday life. I still read literature and everything else that interests me, I also compose and teach, but somehow everything always revolves around music. Since my hearing deteriorated, I have been reading a lot of scores, because now I can only really hear the music, from the inside, by reading it.”
Győrgy Kurtág in his 100th year

“I hear music constantly in the empty silence, while the intellect is still and all emotional strings are relaxed.”
Leos Janácek


Not a single sou]]>... Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17421
P. Murrihy (© Javier del Real/Teatro Real)


Paul Dukas (1865-1935) based his only opera, the rarely-performed Ariane et Barbe‑Bleue (débuted in 1907) on the play by symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck (1862‑1949). Musically distinct from contemporaneous French opera, it could be described as post‑Wagnerian. This production, realized by the brilliant Spanish director Alex Ollé, will hopefully encourage other opera companies to mount this unconventional yet fascinating work.


The symbolist libretto features limited action but much reflection. The story is similar to the fairy]]>... Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17474
B. Volkov (© Guergana_Damianova/Opéra national de Paris)


Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is the composer’s most popular opera and arguably the most popular Russian opera in the entire repertoire. This is understandable, as it’s rich in melody, emotionally engaging arias and wonderfully orchestrated dances (Act II’s Waltz and Act III’s Polonaise). It also affords the set designer a dazzling ball in Act III, a more modest Saint’s Day party in Act II, scenes in the Russian countryside, as well as a memorable letter scene, where Tatyana pours her heart out in an unprecedented declaration of love.


It’s ]]>... Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17463
Prague Philharmonia (© Prague Philharmonia Orchestra)


“I am quite a simple Czech musician and, despite the fact that I have moved considerably in great music circles, I still remain what I have always been – a simple Czech musician.”
Antonín Dvorák


“It is not easy to convey...the enthusiasm Prague’s citizens had for Mozart’s music. The pieces which were admired least of all in other countries were regarded here as things divine; and, more wonderful still, the great beauties which other nations discovered in the music of that rare genius only after many, many performances, were]]>... Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17416
A. Hartig (© Fanny Bergé)


An old joke about Palm Beach, one of America’s richest communities and home to President Donald Trump, reports a new arrival saying “Before I moved here, I thought I was old and rich. But now that I am here I feel young and poor!” With dozens of resident billionaires now calling the island community home, and Florida enjoying a Renaissance in the arts amid booming economic growth, Palm Beach plays by its own rules. Its opera company, one of the most successful regional companies in America, boasts ever‑rising sales and, at this opening night, a longer than ever list of six‑figure donors.]]>... Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17447
M. Werba (© Gianni Cravedi)


Described by German Romantic author E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776‑1822) as “the opera of operas,” Don Giovanni is considered by many the greatest example of this art form, thanks to Mozart’s splendid score and to Lorenzo Da Ponte’s brilliant libretto. The three Mozart/Da Ponte collaborations and some of Richard Strauss’ with poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal are the only operas whose libretti are as good as their score. Indeed, Da Ponte’s libretto can be appreciated on several levels, thus offering a plethora of possibilities to a talented, inspired director.


Of the half doze]]>... Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17427