Best concerts and opera in May
The country house opera season begins, London goes baroque, and there's a last chance to catch English National Opera's big hit, Blue
Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, English National Opera
Final performances of a new staging of one of the best-known and most-loved pieces of modern music, Henryk Górecki's Symphony No 3, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Setting Polish texts, the moving work for orchestra and voice, first heard in 1992, meditates on the awful separation of mother and child. American soprano Nicole Chevalier (pictured) is the soprano soloist, and Russian-American conductor, Lidiya Yankovskaya makes her ENO conducting debut.
Read more ...Innocence, Royal Opera House
Simon Stone of Phaedra fame directs the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's opera Innocence. In modern-day Finland, an oddly subdued wedding is under way. When a waitress is taken ill, memories of a tragedy 10 years earlier are reawakened. Singers include Sandrine Piau (soprano), and Christopher Purves (bass), with Susanna Mällki, chief conductor of the Helskini Philharmonic Orchestra, making her ROH conducting debut.
Read more ...Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD
Blue, English National Opera
Absolutely outstanding opera about parents' fears for their adored son as he goes out into the world and is the victim of a racial attack. Composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist Tazewell Thompson have created an exceptionally well-rounded piece, enriched by wide-ranging music and poetic words. Nadine Benjamin as the Mother (pictured, in blue) and Kenneth Kellogg as the Father lead an exceptional cast. Do catch this!
Read more ...Different Trains, Kings Place
American minimalist composer Steve Reich gave his piece this name to reflect the many journeys he undertook by rail between his separated parents. Here the Ligeti Quartet plays this mesmerising and atmospheric piece in a d&b Soundscape performance, bringing extra depth to the listening experience. Part of Sound Unwrapped, a year-long exploration of the limits of music.
A Watchful Gaze, The Sixteen
Enjoy music in beautiful surroundings at this stop on the choir's Choral Pilgrimage 2023. Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, a composer who changed English music, the choir commissioned contemporary composer Dobrinka Tabakova whose pieces Arise Lord into thy Rest and Turn our Captivity are given their London premiere.
Read more ...London Festival of Baroque Music 2023, St John's Smith Square
Nine days of music and insight from the 17th and 18th century repertoire includes concerts, a masterclass with virtuoso keyboard player Steven Devine (pictured) and – our favourite – a Baroque Cabaret, with the brilliant young Southbank Sinfonia, players from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and wine and cheese for the audience (Thurs 18 May).
Read more ...Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2023
Three exciting new productions dominate a season that is punctuated with revivals of three outstanding classic productions. Choose from Mozart's thrilling Don Giovanni, Poulenc's moving Dialogues des Carmelites or Handel's dramatic Semele. Or revisit the timeless Peter Hall production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress with David Hockney sets or Donizetti's fizzing comedy, L'Elisir d'Amore.
Opera Holland Park 2023
Opera Holland Park is the go-to summer music venue for London music-lovers, and this year it offers more than the classics of the opera repertoire for which it is justly renowned. Alongside Verdi (Rigoletto) and Puccini (La Bohème) will be contemporary composer Jonathan Dove, whose accessible new opera, Itch, is based on the periodic table. Also good for families, Hansel and Gretel. To close, hilarity with Charles Court Opera's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore.
Read more ...Garsington Opera 2023
One of the companies Londoners love to see in action, and one that always punches above its weight. Garsington Opera, on the Getty estate at Wormsley, near High Wycombe, has three new productions and one excellent revival this year. To open, Rossini's sparkling The Barber of Seville, then an early Mozart gem, Mitridate Re di Ponto. After the huge success of his Garsington Der Rosenkavalier, Bruno Ravella returns to Richard Strauss for Ariadne auf Naxos, and returning is Smetana's The Bartered Bride in its highly-acclaimed, circus-skilled production (pictured).
Read more ...