If ever a Requiem raged against the dying of the light, it was Verdi's. At its first performance in 1874, it was denounced as "opera in ecclesiastical get-up" but these days, that's no great obstacle... more
Kitted out in Welsh red dragon coat trimmed with saltire and cross of St George, Bryn Terfel led the lusty crowd in Rule, Britannia! at the Last Night of the Proms.... more
Cabin crews and ground staff at Lufthansa have voted for strike action starting on Sunday 27th which will bring chaos for thousands of visiting businessmen... more
Several 11th-hour cast changes, together with John Gunter’s oppressive, post-modernist fixed set didn't bode well for Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.... more
When he was asked to portray the leading role to advertise a Royal Opera House production of Verdi's Rigoletto, the fledgling actor was happy to oblige. But seven years on, with the powerful image still being used to promote the opera on huge billboards, the now established TV and film actor says a vital part of his anatomy has been unflatteringly air-brushed... more
Flamboyant designer Zandra Rhodes has created the costumes and set for Verdi's Aida. But can she make it the Christmas hit the English National Opera so desperately needs?... more
Mark Elder, ever an accomplished Verdian, directed a well-paced and impassioned performance of Stiffelio, with fine woodwind solos and some wonderfully hushed string passages.... more
Zandra Rhodes will design the set and costumes for an extravagant new production of Aida, the highlight of the English National Opera's new season announced today.... more
Popular, tuneful and furiously melodramatic, Il Trovatore set Covent Garden ablaze with a quartet of top voices and a conductor who maintained a firm but pliable rhythmic drive.... more
The beige stage of Verdi's grim Rigoletto is a sludgy mess. So it's lucky that a fine cast and glittering score are on hand to do all the work.... more
Trying to offer non-gimmicky opera for Classic FM lovers is not a cardinal sin. But Fiona Maddocks thinks Opera UK might have bitten off a little too much here.... more
As part of a renewal of core repertoire, English National Opera has staged its first new production of Verdi's La Traviata for a decade. The opening night, alas, was a disappointment.... more
Set promisingly in mid/late-19th-century Dublin, the new production of Verdi's La Traviata from the ENO explores the sexual mores of the period against a background of religious conflict.... more
Tonight:
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