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Classical Music

Classical and Opera 2022: London highlights ahead

By Claudia Pritchard on 20/12/2021

Passion, mystery, drama are intrigue are enacted on stage, and the finest concerts feature world-class artists breaking new ground with much-loved works

Voices Unwrapped

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 ...
WHEN
Throughout 2022
WHERE
Kings Place, York Way, London N1 9AG
Royal Opera House

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 ...
WHEN
9 Jan to 24 July 2022
English National Opera 2022

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 ...
WHEN
31 Jan to 14 April 2022
WHERE
English National Opera, Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES
Budapest Festival Orchestr

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.

Read more ...
WHEN
Fri 18 Feb 2022, 7:30PM
WHERE
Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd SE1 8XX
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbican

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 ...
WHEN
Tues 15 and Wed 16 March 2022, 7:30PM
WHERE
Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS
Zurich International Orchestra Series, Cadogan Hall

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 ...
WHEN
Thurs 14 April to Mon 6 June, three concerts, 7:30PM
WHERE
Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ
Donizetti's comedy Don Pasquale at Glyndebourne. Photo: Clive Barda

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 ...
WHEN
21 May 2022 – 28 Aug 2022, six productions, with performances most days and long dinner interval. Full programme to be announced
WHERE
Glyndebourne
Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU
Opera Holland Park 2022

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 ...
WHEN
31 May to 13 Aug 2022
WHERE
Opera Holland Park, Holland Park, London W8 6LU
Garsington Opera 2022

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 ...
WHEN
Wed 1 June to Wed 20 July 2022
WHERE
Garsington Opera, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire HP14 3YG
Grange Park Opera

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 ...
WHEN
9 June to 16 July 2022
WHERE
Grange Park Opera, West Horsley Place, Epsom Road, West Horsley, Leatherhead KT24 6AN
Kopatchinskaja plays Tchaikovsky

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 ...
WHEN
Fri 24 June 2022, 7:30PM
WHERE
Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd SE1 8XX
BBC Proms 2022

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 ...
WHEN
Fri 30 July to Sat 11 Sept 2022, TBC
WHERE
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP
Share:

Royal Opera House

English National Opera

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Grange Park Opera

Garsington Opera

Opera Holland Park

Roderick Williams

Ed Lyon

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