Best concerts and opera in February
Opera searches for love and meaning, while Vauxhall unwinds with music for all ages
La Bohème, Royal Opera House
Richard Jones's production of Puccini's romantic and tragic opera has a plausible garret for its struggling artists (singers report banging their heads regularly on the beams), and an eye-popping Quality Street Parisian cafe scene in Act Two. At its heart, the love affair between Mimì and Rodolfo, which falters until Mimì's illness brings them together again, but too late.... Angela Gheorghiu is among sopranos singing Mimì at some of the 13 performances, and look out for Lauren Fagan as saucy Musetta.
Read more ...The Handmaid's Tale, English National Opera
The opera of Margaret Atwood's chilling tale returns to ENO to open 2024 in its 'greatest hits' season. An all-star cast singing Paul Ruders' score includes Eleanor Dennis, Susan Bickley, Zwakele Tshabalala and Nadine Benjamin (pictured). The dystopian tale of a society that belittles women is distilled into a succinct and powerful stage work.
Read more ...Tosca, Royal Opera House
Puccini's action-packed opera in the timeless Jonathan Kent production never gets stale, because with each new cast there is new excitement. For this revival, look out for Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte, making her role debut at Covent Garden having made a spectacular house debut in January, jumping in for an indisposed Nina Stemme in Elektra. She plays the opera singer pursued by Rome's chief of police, and tested to the limit.
Read more ...Oksana Lyniv and the LPO play Dvorak, Royal Festival Hall
A really big talent in the new wave of women conductors, Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv (pictured) joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert that includes a UK premiere of the Symphony No 4 for cello and orchestra (The Bell) by her countrywoman Victoria Vita Polevá. Israeli cellist Inbal Segev is the soloist. The programme open with the enchanting music from his opera The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček, and ends with Dvorak's joyful Symphony No 8.
Read more ...The Barber of Seville, English National Opera
Jonathan Miller's matchless production of Rossini's romantic comedy is genuinely funny and there is a great new cast for this production, including soprano Anna Devin making her ENO debut as captive Rosina and Innocent Masuku (pictured) as the barber and fixer Figaro, who helps a lovesick nobleman rescue her. The music room scene is delectable.
Read more ...London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES
The Protecting Veil, Barbican
John Tavener’s intensely beautiful, contemplative eight-part work for cello and string orchestra, The Protecting Veil, has been hugely popular since its premiere at the Proms in 1989. Soloist Guy Johnston and the Britten Sinfonia present the work, which reflects the composer’s Orthodox faith. In the first half, Britten Sinfonia performs Bartók’s compelling, mood-shifting Divertimento, written on the eve of World War II and opens with an orchestral transcription of Beethoven’s compelling Grosse Fuge for string quartet.
Read more ...Dies Irae: Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Aurora
Ever innovative violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja has devised a multi-media mixture of music, video and lighting in response to the global climate crisis and the social instability it engenders. Aurora Orchestra will join her in works ranging across several continents and centuries, culminating in Galina Ustvolskaya’s dramatic Dies Irae, scored for piano, wood block and seven double basses.
Read more ...The Magic Flute, English National Opera
Mozart's knockabout opera has romance, adventure, musical magic and magical music. This revival of Simon McBurney's entrancing production has a really interesting cast, featuring many of the most exciting new artists today, among them Stephanie Wake-Edwards and Ossian Huskinson in smaller roles but with greater things to come. Catch them now, and revel in Mozart's sublime score, sung in English and conducted by German-born Erina Yashima, one of the new generation of women conductors.
Read more ...London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES
The Flying Dutchman, Royal Opera House
The perfect opera for those who want to dip their toes into Wagner but find the four-opera Ring marathon a little daunting. In this standalone piece, a man is doomed to sail the seas until true love liberates him from his accursed wanderings. In Tim Albery's atmospheric production, baritone Bryn Terfel is the lonely Dutchman, with Swedish soprano Elisabet Strid as Senta, the young woman who takes pity on him, and tenor Toby Spence as her rejected suitor, Erik.
Read more ...Classical Vauxhall
This long weekend of music is a real Culture Whisper favourite, for its innovative programming, choice of artists and appealing venues. Highlight of the five-event mini-festival include violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Tom Poster with their classical juke box at St Mark's, Kennington (29 Feb) and Adjoa Andoh (pictured) narrating Prokofiev's timeless fable in music, Peter and the Wolf, at Edinburgh House, Kennington Lane.
Read more ...