R3OK

No, not a strange fusion between Britten and Glass, but performances of Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh beach in June. I gather the orchestral contributions are being recorded the previous week at Snape (when three concert performances are also planned) and the singers radio-miked on the night. For sheer atmosphere, I think it's going to be quite an event!

http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/events/grimes-beach

Anyone else planning to venture across to Suffolk for this?

Have just returned from the first night of Julietta at ENO. Here's my hastily penned review:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=777:julietta-english-national-opera-17th-september-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It's such a surreal piece and so suited to Richard Jones to direct. Although the production has been around for a while - it premiered in Paris in 2002 - it's well worth catching one of the remaining five performances.

I'm looking forward to this new production at Holland Park this week. In preparation, I met soprano Anna Leese who sings the role of Tatyana:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=734:interview-anna-leese&catid=15:interviews&Itemid=14

Just thought I'd pop mu head round the door to put in a good word for Jamie Lloyd's new production of The Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic. I was in London for the Verdi Requiem at tonight's Barbican concert with the Mariinsky forces, so thought I'd try and catch a matinee performance at the theatre. Lastminute had tickets for £15 available and, as it turns out, I got upgraded to the stalls, which struck me as an excellent deal.

The staging is wonderfully atmospheric - plenty of darkness, shadows and swirling incense - and a set which has a striking architectural feel, with bridges/ walkways above the action well utilised. There are a couple of excellent portrayals: Eve Best as a poignant Duchess and Mark Bonnar a very good Bosola, conveying the volte-face his character undergoes after the Duchess' death convincingly. Harry Lloyd was a passionate/ reckless Ferdinand, while Finbar Lynch's Cardinal was suave and seedy. It's many, many years since I studied the play for A Level, but it's surprising how much came back to me during the performance. Well worth a visit if you're in town.

I was idly watching an all-Beethoven concert on SkyArts2, recorded a few days ago, when I suddenly spotted strina! But rather than the Academy of Ancient Music, this was with the OAE under Vladimir Jurowski - a rather hard-driven Coriolan, followed by a Fourth Symphony with plenty of nice contrasts, including a perky lightness of touch where required. What a fabulous woodwind line-up the OAE has (and has had for a number of years...)

Symphony No.7 to come later.

It looks to be in a French concert hall (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées?). I'm sure it'll be repeated soon.

The death of tenor Salvatore Licitra has been reported. He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage following a crash on his motor-scooter last week, after which he was in a coma. He died earlier today.

He was an exciting tenor, making a splash when he stood in for Pavarotti at the Met.

New York Times report here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/arts/music/salvatore-licitra-tenor-at-the-met-dies-at-43-after-crash.html

I went to the opening night of ENO's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream yesterday. Director Christopher Alden has set it in the 1950s/60s, contemporary to the opera's composition, in a school, with Oberon a kiddy-fiddling teacher, Puck one of his vicitims who - as a grown up 'Theseus' on the eve of his wedding - revisits to relive the horrors of his schooldays.

Thankfully, I wasn't reviewing, but here's the assessment/ savaging by our critic: http://tinyurl.com/SJTMND

Musically, some strong performances. Unfortunately, Iestyn Davies was unable to sing, so mimed the role while William Towers sang from the side.

Reiner will be pleased to note(?!) that it's a co-production with the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre, so he'll doubtless have the opportunity to witness it firsthand...

See the LSO in Mahler 10 (Adagio) & 9 live from Salle Pleyel, Paris NOW (7pm start)... http://www.citedelamusiquelive.tv/Concert/0960360.html