Iestyn Davies News

38-year-old Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani has become the youngest ever recipient of the Wigmore Medal.  In recognition of his outstanding musical achievements and contribution to Wigmore Hall, Esfahani received the medal last night from Wigmore Hall director John Gilhooly.

Tickets go on sale to Barbican Patrons today, Barbican Members Plus on Thursday 16 June, Barbican Members on Friday 17 June and on general sale on Saturday 18 June 2022.

Carnegie Hall today announced programming for its 2022–2023 season, including more than 150 concerts by many of the world’s leading artists and ensembles, plus a wide range of innovative education and social impact programs created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, serving audiences in New York City and beyond.

John Gilhooly, Artistic and Executive Director of Wigmore Hall, today unveils the full line-up of concerts and artists for the 2022/23 concert season from 1 September 2022 to 31 July 2023. 

If Friday night’s performance of Handel’s RODELINDA sometimes seemed like it was never going to end--it was quickly approaching the witching hour by the time the curtain calls were over, having started at 7:30--it certainly wasn’t the fault of the cast but Handel himself and librettist Nicola Haym. With ornamentation galore and da capo arias that strung phrases along one time after another (and a plot to make your head spin), it set challenges for everyone on stage, both musically and dramatically. And they were certainly up to it.

Handel’s Baroque drama Rodelinda returns to the Met for the first time in more than a decade, with five performances March 11–27. Soprano Elza van den Heever makes her Met role debut singing the title character in one of Handel’s most successful operas, based on the life of a seventh-century queen in the northern Italian kingdom of Lombardy.

Sasha Cooke will sing Eduige in all performances of Handel's Rodelinda this season, replacing Jamie Barton, who is now singing Eboli in the Met's new production of Verdi's Don Carlos, as previously announced.

Wigmore Hall, home to UK's largest classical music concert programme, rings in 2022 with 162 concerts from January to March.

This evening our online show is Los Angeles Opera’s La Traviata from 2006 with: Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazón, Renato Bruson, Suzanna Guzmán, Anna Akhimova, Daniel Montenegro, Philip Kraus, James Creswell, Sal Malaki, and Mark Kelley. James Conlon conducts the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. The stage director is Marta Domingo. Brian Large directs it for TV.

The jury for the Competition this year included Ian Partridge, Catherine Denley, Michael George, Tim Mead and Oliver Mears.

The Met’s popular Summer HD Festival returns on Saturday, August 28, featuring a lineup of ten free encore presentations from the company’s popular Live in HD series, as well as a special pre-festival screening of Susan Froemke’s acclaimed documentary The Opera House.

British stage director Netia Jones put her singular stamp on a production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream seen at the Santa Fe Opera on August 4, 2021. Performed in the opera house, it was simulcast to the lower parking lot where hundreds of patrons watched from the safety of their cars. One can take the entire family in the car.

There are a number of parallels between the two operas I saw in Santa Fe (NM) this past weekend: The Benjamin Britten/Peter Pears treatment of Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and the world premiere of the John Corigliano/Mark Adamo THE LORD OF CRIES. The first was, for me at least, an all-around, marvelous success, while the other was a disappointment.

Today's top stories: watch an all new Cinderella trailer starring Camila Cabello, Billy Porter, & Idina Menzel, Trevor the Musical announced a virtual casting call, and more!

This week (June 28- July 4) in live streaming: Emma Kingston and Josh Gad visit Backstage Live, Tovah Feldshuh in Becoming Dr. Ruth, a Jenn Colella Masterclass, and so much more!

Today's top stories: Springsteen on Broadway officially returned this weekend, marking the first show to reopen on Broadway since the shutdown began in March 2020. Read all of the reviews and firsthand accounts, learn about what's different since the show's original run, and check out photos and videos!

This week (June 21-28) in live streaming: Kate Reinders, Amanda Kloots and Jennifer Nettles visit Backstage Live, Fredi Walker-Browne shares Ten Minute Tidbits, a Kerry Butler masterclass, Tovah Feldshuh in Becoming Dr. Ruth, and so much more!

The Met has announced themed lineups for three weeks of its Nightly Met Opera Streams, the company's ongoing series of encore Live in HD presentations and classic telecasts streamed on its website during the Covid-19 closure. The schedule begins with a week, leading up to Father's Day on June 20, comprising a selection of operas featuring themes of fatherhood.

Today's top stories: Matilda film sets December 2022 release, first look inside the new Drama Bookshop and more!

This week (June 7-13) in live streaming: Matthew Morrison visits Backstage Live, the Next on Stage Season 3 finale, Show of Titles premieres, and so much more!