My top picks for UK classical & opera in December (festive and non) for the I Paper: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

The I Paper asked me to get opinion-y to mark the anniversary of Les Mis: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Some thoughts on Katie Mitchell's operatic farewell - the Royal Opera's Makropulos Case: www.oper-magazin.de/kritiken/auf...

Any Glyndebourne Members at the Open Day tomorrow (8 Nov) do consider coming along to my lecture on The Birth of Opera. There will be naughty aristocrats, musicological scandals, bags of Monteverdi, and a little help from my friends Sarah Lenton and Martyn Bennett

When I think about what contemporary opera can and should be - and whether "contemporary popular opera" could ever be a thing, I always think of Dead Man Walking: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

How do you present Bach’s cantatas in a way that honours their original Lutheran context without making a contemporary audience sit through an hour-long sermon in a cold church? The OAE's Bach, The Universe & Everything is back: www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/celesti...

What does English National Opera's Albert Herring tell us about the company's future, its challenges and ambitions? Some thoughts on this cracking show for the I Paper: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

I too have read this book for review. V interesting to see @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social’s take on it - lots we agree on. My review out on @theartsdesk.bsky.social shortly

Robin Holloway's Music's Odyssey is certainly an epic. I took the journey and lived to tell the tale @spectator www.spectator.co.uk/article/robi...

'Much more fun than a Classical biopera might sound' ★★★★ GIUSTINO #LinburyTheatre @royaloperahouse.bsky.social - Gods, mortals and monsters do battle in #Handel's charming drama - @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social enjoys a stylish account of a slight opera theartsdesk.com/opera/giusti...

Tenderness and intimacy from @etopera.bsky.social new Rape of Lucretia: www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/the-...

"A fascinating experiment" - review of Bushra El-Turk's Oum: A Son's Quest for his Mother @thestage.co.uk www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/oum-...

Ahead of the Barbican's Arvo Part at 90 exhibition, I explored the blanched sonic world of Estonia's greatest living composer: www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/arvo-pa...

Is it time to stop worrying and learn to love Verdi's operatic bomb? I enjoyed a third visit to Stefan Herheim's Vepres Siciliennes @royaloperahouse.bsky.social gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

It was a gift to have a reason to spend far too much time listening to the many - and very varied - recordings of Jean Richafort's ravishing Requiem for Gramophone magazine - try this and marvel: open.spotify.com/track/2KTkXA... www.gramophone.co.uk/features/art...

The Royal Opera's new Tosca delivers just enough shock without scaring the horses: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Is it a musical or an opera? Grimeborn's Sense & Sensibility: The Musical should pick a lane: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

An opera company makes its London debut: review of Wild Arts' sober Eugene Onegin & a giddy Elisir d'amore at Opera Holland Park: gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

Loved the music, hated the hall - pace purists, but it's time for some inauthentic solutions to early music at the Proms...

This new Hyperion album contains a piece by someone new to me, a man with the BEST FRENCH COMPOSER NAME EVER. Does anyone know anything about Didier-Gaston de l'Aubergine? #classicalmusic #cello #frenchcomposers

Good to be going head to head with @larkingrumple.bsky.social again in Gramophone - this time about a classic recording of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites:

**** Some seriously classy playing from Kantorow and a Scottish Chamber Orchestra performing like a crack baroque band for Emelyanychev: BBC Proms review @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Very much enjoyed my first trip to West Green Opera www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

First visit to @westgreenopera_ last night - what a magical garden and place. Bonus points for three-man duck security team shaking down picnickers for crumbs…

Plenty of laughs and some cracking orchestral playing in this rewrite of Mozart’s The Impresario at Buxton Festival. Debut review from me @TheStage www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/the-...

My top picks from a fab BBC Proms 2026 season for @thetablet.bsky.social www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/the-pro...

My season guide to the Proms for @thetablet.bsky.social t www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/the-pro...

Longborough beyond Wagner: the festival’s first Pelléas is rich and thoughtful: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

A monumental achievement from British Youth Opera (and can someone please hire Mark Le Brocq to sing Grimes again please?). Reviewed Peter Grimes for @ccmusicuk.bsky.social : criticscircle.org.uk/a-rich-haul-...

Some thrilling singing helps Oliver Mears' Semele come crackling to life at the Royal Opera: oper-magazin.de/kritiken/auf... review auf deutsch in @opermagazin.bsky.social

Orchestral partnerships are the engine of summer opera companies. Thrilling things happening @GarsingtonOpera in large part thanks to @philharmonialondon.bsky.social & @englishconcert.bsky.social thetablet.co.uk/authors/alex... reviews of Rodelinda & Elisir d'amore @The_Tablet

"By turns beautiful and frustrating": Review of A Visit to Friends - Colin Matthews and William Boyd's debut opera for the Aldeburgh Festival: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

A sparky, feel-good Elisir d'amore at Garsington and a disappointing Madama Butterfly at Grange Park: inews.co.uk/culture/arts... review @theipaper.com

Interviewed the delightful Masaaki Suzuki for The Tablet ahead of his debut with the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra later this month:

The Barbican’s Feel The Sound exhibition makes a lot of noise while saying nothing at all: review @thetablet.bsky.social

David McVicar's Faust still does the business for the Royal Opera. (And there's an interesting debut from Carolina Lopez Moreno): theartsdesk.com/opera/faust-... review @theartsdesk.bsky.social

PYGMALION #EarlyOperaCompany #ChristianCurnyn #MiddleTempleHall - #Rameau magic outside the opera house in this welcome opportunity to catch opera-ballet, though not everything is in perfect focus, says @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/opera/pygmal...

Anyone in Cambridge tonight or London tomorrow, coming along to the @aam.co.uk Art of Fugue staging, i'll be pre-concert talking with Bill Barclay & Laurence Cummings at 6.30pm: aam.co.uk/concerts/bac...

Telemann's Pimpinone: a rare baroque gem comes up sparkling at the Royal Opera. Review by @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social for The Critics' Circle. criticscircle.org.uk/telemanns-pi...

Opera in the UK: a tale of two seasons www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/opera-i...

This rare Telemann gem comes up sparkling from the Jette Parker Young Artists and the Royal Opera: criticscircle.org.uk/telemanns-pi...

The drama of Barrie Kosky's Die Walkure is in the details: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

I got on my soapbox for the I Paper about the current trend for marathon classical music: performance as endurance sport.(With bonus Pauline Oliveros for those who stick around) inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

What a treat to get to talk to novelist William Boyd and composer Colin Matthews about their new collaboration‬⁩ for ⁦‪Opera Magazine:

What a pleasure to chat to assorted Bevans for the current edition of The Tablet: bags of joys (and penitential music):

Found this new history of black opera fascinating and frustrating in equal measure: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

For anyone who missed this very important news, Jennie the guide dog crossed the floor of the House of Commons yesterday to be stroked by Labour MPs She was then summoned by the Lib Dem Chief Whip for a very stern word

Review: Royal Opera's Turandot for Opera Now: "You’d have to be a psychopathic ice-princess not to be delighted. And yet..." www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

★★★ Bridging the centuries in sound: Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet bring more American punch than Gallic je-ne-sais-quoi to Ravel, finds @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social at Kings Place theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

More American punch than Gallic je ne sais quoi from the Attacca Quartet at Kings Place: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...