Best Opera and Classical Music 2021
Symphony concerts that open up new horizons, operas that take audiences to another realm .... trust music to transport us out of daily life and make a world of difference
The Ring, English National Opera
Formidable women have been enlisted by English National Opera in its fightback again the adversities of Covid and Brexit. The ferocious Valkyrie, embodied in music by the composer Richard Wagner, will tear on to the stage of the Coliseum this autumn, as the curtain goes up on the Ring Cycle, dates to be announced.
Read more ...Classical Vauxhall, live concerts online
The charismatic saxophonist Jess Gillam and supertenor Nicky Spence head a starry line-up over a weekend of classical music streamed from 18 to 21 March. Programmes include much-loved classics and the best show tunes.
Read more ...London Unwrapped, Kings Place
A year-long celebration of the capital's musical talents – its performers and composers, and its enriching incomers. Top artists include Aurora orchestra and Chineke! Chamber Ensemble, singers Allan Clayton (tenor) and Iestyn Davies (counter-tenor), vocal ensemble The Sixteen and the mould-breaking Hermes Experiment (pictured). Composers in the spotlight include London's own Anna Meredith and two Germans who adopted this as their home – Handel and JC Bach.
Read more ...90 York Way, London, N1 9AG
Live concerts, Barbican
With its many doors and wide open spaces, the Barbican concert hall is better suited than many to staging live concerts. Umissable, the first concert of an adjusted season features Mitsuko Uchida (pictured) in Schumann's ravishing Piano Concerto, with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the LSO in Schumann's Symphony No 9 too (two performances, Thurs 14 Jan). Coming later, lots more from the LSO, baritone Roderick Williams's recital (27 April), a Los Angeles Phil residency (22 & 23 May), and continuing 50th birthday celebrations for composer Thomas Adès.
Read more ...Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2021
Summer isn’t complete without at least one trip to Glyndebourne, and what could be more heartening than news of this year’s full season? World-class musicianship and cheerful picnicking meet for six productions. Top of our list, Janáček's searing Kát'a Kabanová, Verdi's dramatic Luisa Miller and Rossini's comedy Il Turco in Italia. Also on offer, two Mozart revivals, Die Zauberflöte and Così Fan Tutte, plus Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
Read more ...London Handel Festival 2021
George Frideric Handel adopted London as his home, and blessed the capital with an abundance of enduring works. The annual London Handel Festival is a rich source of music and of rising musical talent. But its activities are year-round. Amateur singers can prepare now for an online Messiah, rehearsing at home before an edited, streamed performance on 5 April. Then stand aside as the professionals let rip with concerts and operas galore.
Read more ...Opera Holland Park 2021
London's own country house opera goes from strength to strength every season, and after the last, fallow, summer OHP will be aiming high. Curtain up on Tues 1 June heralds two months of music-making, with new productions of Mozart’s clever comedy Le Nozze di Figaro, Janáček’s family-minded The Cunning Little Vixen and Mascagni’s moving L’Amico Fritz, plus a revival of the outstanding 2018 staging of Verdi’s La Traviata.
Read more ...Garsington Opera 2021
With three new productions and a welcome revival, Garsington Opera in its magical garden setting makes up for a lost year in style, and fields four marvellous casts. Strauss's romantic Der Rosenkavalier opens the season (Wed 2 June), followed by the five-star production from 2016 of Tchaikovsky's powerful Eugene Onegin (pictured). Also on the bill, Handel's rarely heard Amadigi and Rossini's rip-roaring Comte Ory.
Read more ...Grange Park Opera 2021
No company worked harder than Grange Park to keep the music turning in challenging 2020, and you can still stream some of the work here. In June and July, in its sylvan Theatre in the Woods, Grange Park is back on familiar turf with four productions: Verdi's Falstaff, Puccini's La Bohème, Rimsky-Korsakov's rarely staged Ivan the Terrible, and a new opera by Anthony Bolton, The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko.
Read more ...BBC Proms 2021
Hamstrung in 2020, the BBC Proms can be expected to be more exuberant than ever, all summer long. Britain's many world-class orchestras may be joined by fewer visiting ensembles, but big names aplenty will be on the bill. Composers likely to be celebrated are Beethoven, the 250th anniversary of whose birth was marked by fewer live performances than planned last year, and Stravinsky, who died 50 years ago. In the meantime, watch some 2020 highlights here.
Read more ...Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP