The casual operagoer would be forgiven for not being sure whether The Royal Opera House’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Ballo in Maschera was set in Boston, as it usually is, or in Stockholm, as it often is and was

We’re blasted with the full force of the chorus right from the beginning of the show, accompanying a brutal prison drug search. This was one of many lights in which we saw the English National Opera chorus during ENO’s production

Now well into the second decade of the twenty-first century, we well and truly live in a global age. News breaks across the globe within minutes; we enjoy food from the other side of the planet in our own kitchens;

I arrive into Bristol an hour early, so I grab a quick coffee in the bar of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, the recently-renovated landmark in Bristol’s cultural history. As I sit in the bar someone leans out a door

Stepping into the cool foyer of Wigmore Hall in the middle of a blisteringly hot London day has the same effect as a chilled drink on a summer’s day: instantly cool and refreshing. Unfortunately, seeing as only bottled water was

In its 30th year, the 2014 Lufthansa Festival presented a variety of music heard in Britain during the early 18th century under the reign of the Georgian dynasty. There were many favourites on offer, such as Handel’s Coronation Anthems, Ode

in vain Last Friday, a packed out Queen Elizabeth Hall played host to the London Sinfonietta’s performance of Georg Friedrich Haas’ in vain, generating an air of cultist excitement around its London premiere. The piece’s famous use of darkness and

The atmosphere was electric. A mix of current Guildhall students, teachers, professors, alumni, critics and music lovers all piled in to the intimate Milton Court concert hall – Guildhall’s new music and drama venue. To celebrate the opening of this