Classical and Opera 2022: London highlights ahead
Passion, mystery and intrigue are enacted on stage, and the finest concerts feature world-class artists breaking new ground with much-loved works
Voices Unwrapped
Every year music-makers at Kings Place take a theme and dig deep into all its possibilities, with fascinating results. This year, Voices Unwrapped rejoices in the return of vocal music temporarily silenced by the pandemic. From fine solo artists, including baritone Roderick Williams (pictured) to entire choirs, marvel at the range of music created for the most versatile and beguiling of all instruments – the human voice.
Read more ...Royal Opera House
Of the 11 productions opening from January, standout operas are Handel's Theodora (31 Jan to 16 Feb) with Joyce DiDonato, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes (17-31 March) with Allan Clayton in the title role, and Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila (26 May to 19 June), with Culture Whisper favourite Nicky Spence (pictured).
Read more ...English National Opera 2022
A revival of Jonathan Miller's stylish production of Puccini's La Bohème (pictured, 31 Jan to 27 Feb )is the first of four operas until the summer break. Next up, Janáček's enchanting The Cunning Little Vixen ( 18 Feb to 1 March) and Mozart's comedy Così Fan Tutte (10 to 22 March). Margaret Atwood's novel inspires the closing opera, The Handmaid's Tale (4 to 14 April)
Read more ...Budapest Festival Orchestra
Iván Fischer conducts this thrillingly dynamic visiting orchestra in an all-Stravinsky programme. Hold on tight for the most visceral work of the 20th century, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Before this spectacular piece, the same composer's Concerto in D for Strings; and Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Nicolas Namoradze the piano soloist. With so few appearances recently of orchestras from abroad, this promises to be a very special event.
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbican
The sizzling, Prague-based orchestra gives two concerts at the Barbican Hall under conductor Semyon Bychkov. For the first (15 March) Yuja Wang (pictured) is the soloist in Stravinsky, and the heart and soul of Czech music, Smetana's Ma Vlast, traces the composer's Bohemian landscape in music. And cancel everything to catch the second concert, featuring Dvořák's Symphony No 8 and Leoš Janáček's mighty Glagolitic Mass. Umissable.
Read more ...Zurich International Orchestra Series, Cadogan Hall
With fewer orchestras visiting London, this series redresses the balance, bringing players from all over the world. Among the interesting appearances, the China Symphony Orchestra of Shenzhen playing Mahler & Shostakovich (14 April), with violinist Vadim Repin, the Russian Philharmonic of Novosibirsk under Thomas Sanderling in Sibelius’s Symphony No 5 (23 May), with soloist Jennifer Pike playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, and the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 (6 June), with soloist Angela Hewitt (pictured) playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23.
Read more ...Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2022
Our pick of this year's six productions at Sussex country house begins with the opening opera, Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers, set in Cornwall. Look out too for a new production of Handel's Alcina (14 July to 24 Aug) and a rare Francis Poulenc double bill (6 to 28 Aug). Revivals include Don Pasquale (pictured), Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Puccini's La Bohème.
Read more ...Opera Holland Park 2022
Four new productions and a Gilbert and Sullivan bonne bouche. London's own country house opera opens with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (31 May to 13 June), and continues with Bizet's Carmen (2 to 24 June), and a double bill of Margot la Rouge and Le Villi (21 July to 6 Aug), before closing with Little Women (22 July to 5 Aug) and HMS Pinafore (9 to 13 Aug). Catch them all to experience the full range of this remarkable company.
Read more ...Garsington Opera 2022
A superb production of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw (pictured) returns (2 to 18 July) in a season that opens with Monteverdi's Orfeo (1 June to 3 July) with Ed Lyon in the title role, Mozart's Così Fan Tutte (2 June to 20 July) and Dvorak's Rusalka (18 June to 19 July), with Natalya Romaniw in the title role as a mermaid in love with an earthly prince. A really magical programme.
Read more ...Grange Park Opera
At the very pretty Theatre in the Woods (pictured), four productions with some very starry names. Rarely performed, The Excursions of Mr Broucek by Leos Janáček opens the season (9 June to 7 July), followed by Ponchielli's La Gioconda (11 June to 13 July), Verdi's powerful Otello with Simon Keenlyside (19 June to 9 July) and Wagner's romantic Der Fliegende Holländer with Bryn Terfel. Take a picnic and discover the secret gardens too.
Read more ...Aurora Orchestra
Aurora Orchestra injects extra drama into the great works by playing them from memory. For this exciting concert the players, under Nicolas Collon, turn to Shostakovich's Symphony No 9, composed in 1945 to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany, revealing its power it as if for the first time. After the interval, the idiosyncratic violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja (pictured) is the soloist in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.
Read more ...BBC Proms 2022
The biggest musical festival in the world climbs back to full-size with scores of live concerts, most at the Royal Albert Hall. Expect celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer of towering symphonies. With travel uncertain, there is certain too to be a strong showing by British performers.
Read more ...