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Best concerts and opera in February

By Claudia Pritchard on 23/1/2023

Drama and comedy at the opera, music for children, and Paris in song

Tannhaüser, Royal Opera House

Fantasy and morality tale combine in Wagner's opera about a ballad singer finding his way in life after a year of sensual pleasure. German tenor Stefan Vinke takes the title role in this playful production by Tim Albery, with Norwegian star soprano Lise Davidson (pictured) as his true love, Elizabeth. An all-star cast includes baritone Gerald Finley.

WHEN

Sunday 29 January to Thursday 16 February. Six performances, start times vary. Running time around 4hr 30min, with two intervals

WHERE

Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD

At ENO Bizet's Carmen is set in Franco's edgy Spain. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

Carmen, English National Opera

Bizet's evergreen, Spanish-set opera returns, with US mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson in the title role. She is joined in a strong cast by fellow Americans, bass Nmon Ford as the dashing toreador Escamillo and tenor Sean Panikaar reprising his role as besotted Don José. There's spectacle and passion aplenty in this headstrong tale of doomed love.

WHEN

Wednesday 1– Friday 24 February 2023. Nine performances, with one interval. Start times vary. Running time c2hr 45min

WHERE

English National Opera, London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES

The Barber of Seville, Royal Opera House

A noble young lover disguised as a poor student woos the attractive young ward of a jealous old guardian in Rossini's comic opera. You know it's going to end well… With hilarious episodes including a music lesson, there are laughs aplenty – and gasps of amazement at Rossini's virtuosic writing. Also screened live across London and nationwide on Wednesday 15 February, with an Encore screening on Sunday 19 February.

WHEN

Thursday 2 February to Friday 3 March. Eight performances, start times vary. Running time around 3hr 15min with one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD

Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbican Hall

Celebrating its 25th year by taking music all over Europe, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by founder Marios Papadopoulos, gives a really lovely London concert, opening with John Rutter's A Birthday Greeting. The soloist in Mendelssohn's ever-popular Violin Concerto is Maxim Vengerov (pictured), and the programme ends with Brahms's sweeping Symphony No 2.

WHEN

Monday 6 February, 7:30pm

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Half Six Fix, London Symphony Orchestra

These power-packed one-hour, early-evening concerts are a massive hit, and hugely enjoyable. Marin Alsop (pictured) introduces two pieces: the Symphonic Nocturne from Kurt Weill's glamorous Broadway Lady in the Dark, and Beethoven's astonishing Piano Concerto No 2, with soloist Eric Lu, winner of the Leeds Piano Competition 2018. All this, and you're out in time for dinner! Unmissable. Great for young ones too.

WHEN

Wednesday 8 February, 6:30pm to 7:30pm

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Debussy and the Snow Elephant

Help Jimbo to shuffle like a penguin, hop like a toad and sparkle like a thousand fireflies in this storytelling concert suitable for ages 0 to five. The event blends beautiful chamber arrangements of Debussy’s piano music with a specially commissioned story from writer Kate Wakeling, presented by dancer Helen Aldrich.

WHEN

Sunday 12 February and Monday 13 February, 10am, 11:15am, 12:30pm, 1:45pm

WHERE

Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

The Rhinegold, English National Opera

ENO's new staging of operas in Wagner's great Ring Cycle continues with the quest for stolen treasure, a no-holds-barred adventure. The powerful Rhinemaidens, including mezzo-soprano Idunnu Münch (pictured), are among those in pursuit of the villains. But it takes a while to negotiate all the twists and turns, so go prepared for a film-length evening.

WHEN

Saturday 18 February to Friday 10 March. Eight performances, start times vary. Running time 2hr 45min with no interval

WHERE

English National Opera, London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble, Wigmore Hall

Europe's first majority-Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, Chineke!, was Culture Whisper's favourite orchestra in 2023. Here, some of the players form a smaller, chamber orchestra for a fascinating programme. Music by 20th- and 21st-century composers spans works William Grant Still and Paul Hindemith, both born in 1895, to Gilles Silvestrini (b.1961)and Valerie Coleman (b.1970), whose Red Clay & Mississippi Delta is one of several pieces with visual inspiration.

WHEN

Sunday 19 February, 7:30pm

WHERE

Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP

From Paris with Love, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Soprano Danielle de Niese (pictured) has just scored a huge hit with English National Opera's It's a Wonderful Life, and now she returns to London from her Glyndebourne home for very different music in a French-themed concert. She is the soloist with the LPO under French conductor Bertrand de Billy in the ravishing and impressionist Poème de l’amour et de la mer by Ernest Chausson. To open, Ravel's gentle Pavane pour une infante défunte. César Franck's soaring and sole symphony closes a concert packed with personality.

WHEN

Saturday 25 February, 7:30pm

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Giulio Cesare, English Touring Opera

Another welcome visit to London by English Touring Opera begins with Handel's action-packed and tune-filled opera about Cleopatra's passion for Julius Caesar. With soprano Susanna Hurrell (pictured) as Cleopatra and interesting new counter-tenor Francis Gush as Caesar. Later in the tour, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia (Friday 3 March) and Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims (Saturday 4 March).

WHEN

Saturday 25 February, 7:30pm. One performance. Running time around 3hr with one interval

WHERE

Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London E8 1EJ

Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the London Philharmonic Orchestra

The ever-popular young cellist joins the LPO for two attractive afternoon events that are ideal for families. At 3pm, soloist and orchestra perform a full concert, including music from Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette, Bloch's moving Schelomo: Hebraic Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, and Sibelius's expressive Symphony No 1. A few minutes after the concert, at around 5.10pm, LPO cellists and Sheku meet again in the RFH's Clore Ballroom for a free performance of Villa-Lobos's sultry and atmospheric Bachianas Brasileiras No 1. Unmissable!

WHEN

Sunday 26 February, 3pm and 5:10pm

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Dead Man Walking, Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Jake Heggie was the composer of English National Opera's Christmas hit, It's a Wonderful Life, and here is one of his earlier operas, based on the book of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, which was also filmed. A condemned man on death row is befriended by a nun who sticks by him to the end. Strong stuff, but performed by the next generation of opera singers, and your chance to catch the big new talents on their way up.

WHEN

Monday 27 February to Monday 6 March, 7pm. Four performances with one interval

WHERE

Silk Street Theatre, Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 5EJ

Best concerts and opera in February

Drama and comedy at the opera, music for children, and Paris in song

Tannhaüser, Royal Opera House

Carmen, English National Opera

The Barber of Seville, Royal Opera House

Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbican Hall

Half Six Fix, London Symphony Orchestra

Debussy and the Snow Elephant

The Rhinegold, English National Opera

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble, Wigmore Hall

From Paris with Love, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Giulio Cesare, English Touring Opera

Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Dead Man Walking, Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Royal Opera House

English National Opera

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Chineke!

Danielle de Niese

London Symphony Orchestra

Marin Alsop

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Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2023