One of Britain’s greatest conductors widely admired for leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms One of the most beloved and highly esteemed conductors of his generation, Sir Andrew Davis, who has died aged 80 of leukaemia, was a familiar presence on the podium, not least through his countless appearances at the BBC Proms in his capacity as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000). After Adrian Boult, his was the second longest tenure of the post in the history of the orchestra. During the same period he was also music director of Glyndebourne Opera (1988–2000), conduct ..read more

Royal Opera House, London Nadine Sierra is sensationally good as Lucia in this revival of Katie Mitchell’s production of Donizetti’s romantic tragedy – a dark, thoughtful and sometimes shocking interpretation for the post-#MeToo era These are beleaguered times for opera in Britain. But this revival of Donizetti’s adaptation of Walter Scott showcases one immense reason why opera will outlast its critics: the singing. After acclaim for Asmik Grigorian’s Cio-Cio-San and Aigul Akhmetshina’s Carmen in recent weeks, Nadine Sierra’s Lucia di Lammermoor completes a Covent Garden spring soprano hat-tri ..read more

Susie Sainsbury theatre; Royal Festival Hall; St Martin-in-the-Fields, London Pegasus Opera sparks change with a tart two-hander and a woman on the edge; teenage brass players show their mettle; and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields do their founder proud As a scenario for a chamber opera, try this: two women of “ripe but well-cared-for middle age” (an enviable condition) reminisce as old friends but soon reveal themselves bitter rivals, each harbouring a shocking secret. Edith Wharton’s featherlight short story Roman Fever (1934) can nearly be lifted straight from the page to make a cris ..read more

Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterOpera Rara joined with the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder for this semi-staged performance of the original version of Verdi’s opera Twenty-five years separate the action in the prologue and first act of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, and very nearly the same stretch of time elapsed between the opera’s first incarnation – whose opening night in 1857 the composer wrote off, a touch unjustly, as a “fiasco” – and its revised second version, premiered in 1881. The latter has more or less kept a foothold in the standard repertory ever since; but it’s the 1857 original, which Opera ..read more

Hungarian conductor of modernist music who went on to compose operas with texts ranging from Three Sisters to Angels in America The Hungarian composer and conductor Peter Eötvös, who has died aged 80, is now best known for the 12 operas that he wrote during the last 25 years of his life. Before that, he played a leading role as a conductor specialising in the promotion of European musical modernism. Premiered in Lyon in 1998, the work that launched Eötvös’s career as a successful opera composer was Three Sisters. The libretto, written with Claus H Henneberg, reworks Anton Chekhov’s play into a ..read more

Royal Opera House; St Martin-in-the-Fields; Barbican, London Aigul Akhmetshina steals the show in Damiano Michieletto’s uneven new 70s-set Bizet. And in a good week for world premieres, four composers take on Handel while the London Symphony Orchestra channels death metal Young women strut around in hot pants and read their fate in the cards. Listless men in police uniform sweat, drool and rule. Spain, in the Royal Opera House’s Carmen, newly staged by Damiano Michieletto and conducted by Antonello Manacorda, is a semi-urban wasteland at the end of the General Franco era. A country long steepe ..read more

LSO’s Antonio Pappano says many in UK are ‘embarrassed’ by art form and suspicious of cultural achievements The conductor and musical director of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) has criticised the “misguided wokeism” behind what he called a “great suspicion” of opera and British cultural achievements. Antonio Pappano, 64, has been the musical director of the Royal Opera House for more than two decades. He becomes the LSO’s chief conductor in September, having spent a year as chief conductor designate after Simon Rattle stepped down ..read more

Trinity Buoy Wharf, London Riveting performances underpin a gratifyingly meta version of Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, retold around a Docklands film shoot The London Handel festival has always offered plenty of opportunities to hear the composer’s music in his own church, St George’s, Hanover Square. But this year, like last, the most interesting event takes audiences somewhere unfamiliar: to Trinity Buoy Wharf this time, an old storehouse on a windswept Docklands bank just across from the O2. As an optional extra you can even travel there by boat, serenaded by an oboe-bassoon quartet. As you prep ..read more

Morley/Moore Orchid Classics Erin Morley brings artless precision and liquid phrasing to her debut recording Erin Morley walks straight up into the front rank of high coloratura sopranos with her debut solo recording. The songs are all connected to flowers and gardens, and many also reference birdsong, which fits her perfectly: what’s most striking is her seemingly artless precision, however stratospherically high they take her voice. Her crystalline sound melts into liquid phrases that allow the words to come across strongly; moreover, her tone is full-bodied enough to carry more expansive so ..read more

Boulez’s 100th and Rattle’s 70th are among the highlights of the LSO’s new season with chief conductor Antonio Pappano in which British music is a strong thread. The orchestra also announced an £8m redevelopment of LSO St Lukes The London Symphony Orchestra today announced its 2024-25 season, the orchestra’s first under its chief conductor Antonio Pappano. British music will dominate, with a new work by James MacMillan opening the season on 11 September and works by Bax, Elgar, Holst, Walton, Elizabeth Maconchy and Tippett threaded through the following nine months of concerts. More of the UK ..read more