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Ariadne auf Lewes: Strauss’ Naxos-based opera returns to Glyndebourne, transformed

Ariadne auf Lewes: Strauss’ Naxos-based opera returns to Glyndebourne, transformed

Ariadne auf Lewes: Strauss’ opera returns to Glyndebourne, transformed. Soloists; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Robin Ticciati (conductor). Glyndebourne Opera House, 19.07.2026 Production: Director, Costume Designer - Laurent Pelly Set Designer - Massimo Tronacanetti Lighting Designer - Marco Giusti Cast (Prologue): Music Master - Michael kraus Major-Domo - William Relton Lackey - Oliver Williams Officer

Richard Strauss: excerpts from Die schweigsame Frau

Richard Strauss: excerpts from Die schweigsame Frau

In a week which included Richard Strauss' Ariadne from Glyndebourne, it feels only right to reach for this from the pile: excerpts from Richard Strauss’s comic opera Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman), pre-produced as studio recordings for a television programme in November 1960. The cast was

Ermitage: Poulenc, Roslavets, Shostakovich

Ermitage: Poulenc, Roslavets, Shostakovich

The booklet fo his Scala Music release is French only, but there's an important opening paragraph by Michail Maiasky: The name "Hermitage" may seem paradoxical for a duo: Doesn't the hermit want to go away into a desert (eremos [the Greek ford for solitary]

"Cathedral Music" by Philip Moore - a preview

"Cathedral Music" by Philip Moore - a preview

We've met Philip Moore (born 1943) a couple of times on Classical Explorer previously: A Fugal Flourish on "Personent Hodie" on Christmas Bells, and one of his 21 settings of the Evening Service on Andrew Nethsingha's and St John's Cambridge's

Respighi's Sinfonia drammatica

Respighi's Sinfonia drammatica

Here's a symphony that lives up to its name: the outburst that opens Respighi's Sinfonia drammatico (1913-15, P. 102) is a late-Romantic explosion, and al the music seems to want to do thenceforth is get back to that extreme of emotion. Think Richard Strauss/

Resonance: Farrenc, Schumann, Durosoir

Resonance: Farrenc, Schumann, Durosoir

To my count, this is the eighth post on Classical Explorer featuring playing by Emanuel Despax: he is worth the focus, for sure, a rare meeting of musical sensitivity and high technique. ThePiano Quintet in C-Minor, Op. 40 by Louise Farrenc receives its first recording here. Farrenc's

Jessye Norman: The Unreleased Masters on Decca

Jessye Norman: The Unreleased Masters on Decca

indispensable for all Jessye fans - and just to be reminded of that voice is a treat

Czech Discoveries: Kukal and Teml on Animal Music

Czech Discoveries: Kukal and Teml on Animal Music

After an all-Czech Wimbledon Ladies' Final, a very much all-Czech symphonic release: Ondřej, Jiří, Jakub and Tomáš conspire to give is a very special disc of live performances. Ondřej Kukal (born 1964) is a graduate of the Prague Conservatoire and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Manchester Camerata unveils its 2027/27 season

Manchester Camerata unveils its 2027/27 season

MANCHESTER CAMERATA, LED BY MUSIC DIRECTOR GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY, UNVEILS 2026-27 SEASON OF CONCERTS ACROSS GREATER MANCHESTER AND LONDON ALONGSIDE GROUNDBREAKING COMMUNITY AND HEALTHCARE WORK * AMC Gospel Choir, pianist Ethan Loch, Kantos Chamber Choir, composer Rushil Ranjan and soprano Ying Fang announced as Artistic Partners for 2026-2029 * Second

Bello tiempo passato

Bello tiempo passato

“Fine old days”: Boerio (probably)'s 1673 comic intermezzo We are in the world of the commedia dell'arte here. In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit opera. Here, a Neapolitan, a Calabrian, and a

Sir Stephen Hough to lead the Leeds Piano Competition

Sir Stephen Hough to lead the Leeds Piano Competition

The Leeds International Piano Competition launches a bold new chapter with the appointment of one of the world’s most esteemed artists, British pianist Sir Stephen Hough, as Artistic Director and Chair of the Jury for 2027 as it opens applications for the next Competition. Widely recognised as one of

Les Regrets, ou L'art de la Mélancolie: music by François Couperin

Les Regrets, ou L'art de la Mélancolie: music by François Couperin

Music by François Couperin today, a perfect complement to a previous post on the harpsichord music of Louis Couperin at Wigmore Hall by Jean Rondeau (linked in to his monumental box of Louis' keyboard works on Erato). Here we are on the Dynamic label, for a disc of music

John Wilson & Sinfonia of London: Ravel, Berkeley, Pounds

John Wilson & Sinfonia of London: Ravel, Berkeley, Pounds

Adam Pounds' music is quite the discovery for me

The Mahler Competition 2026: no first prize awarded

The Mahler Competition 2026: no first prize awarded

Jury honours the finalists with one Second Prize and two Third Prizes, reaffirming the exceptionally high artistic standards of the international conducting competition Press Release: July 2026 ● The jury of The Mahler Competition 2026 has decided not to award a First Prize. Instead, the Second Prize was awarded to Jakub

Vaporised Tivoli: The Music of Anders Hillborg

Vaporised Tivoli: The Music of Anders Hillborg

A stunning, beautiful, impactful release

Pappano’s mixed "Tristan" at Barbican

Pappano’s mixed "Tristan" at Barbican

This is surely Sir Antonio Pappano’s “Wagner period”: his recent Siegfried, the latest instrument of an ongoing Ring at RBO revealed, to my ears at least, his finest Wanger to date. He has, of course, recorded Tristan und Isolde with Domingo and Stemme (and a cast that includes Ian

Haitink's Bavarian Bruckner 7

Haitink's Bavarian Bruckner 7

This is not he first specifically Haitink Bruckner 7 on Classical Explorer: we did a short post on a DVD of a Vienna performance here. There is something about the gorgeous warmth of found of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) that suits Bruckner, though, and again

Patterns in Repeat: Manchester Collective at Southbank Centre

Patterns in Repeat: Manchester Collective at Southbank Centre

Loops, patterns, Minimalism, post-Minimalism. ...

Monteverdi's L'Orfeo revisited: Jordi Savall at Paris' Opera Comique

Monteverdi's L'Orfeo revisited: Jordi Savall at Paris' Opera Comique

After Glyndebourne's thought-provoking L'Orfeo, it struck me it was a good idea to cover Jordi Savall's 2000 Barcelona performance, staged by Pauline Bayle, first of all because the staging is a masterpiece of Minimalism (sets Emmanuel Clolus): especially compared with William Kentridge'

Elisabeth Leonskaja's Barbican recital

Elisabeth Leonskaja's Barbican recital

Elisabeth Leonskaja In Recital Barbican Hall, London, 24.06.2026 Mozart Piano Sonata No. 18 in D, K 576 (1789) Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 (1821/22) Schubert Piano Sonata No. 15 in B flat, D 960 (1828) In September 2024, Elisabeth Leonskaja performed the

Mysteria: pianist Svetlana Andreeva's beautifully programmed disc

Mysteria: pianist Svetlana Andreeva's beautifully programmed disc

I'd love to hear Andreeva in recital, she clearly has such alignment with this repertoire. An important disc

René Benedetti's miraculous Paganini

René Benedetti's miraculous Paganini

A must for all violin lovers, and all Paganini lovers

Handel’s Serse at Barbican

Handel’s Serse at Barbican

Most recently seen in March in a stunning Tamerlano at Shorreditch Town Hall as part of the 2026 London Handel Festival, Douglas Cummings and the Academy of Ancient Music gave us Serse of 1738 (premiered at the King’s Theatre, London). It comes in a line of Serses, notably Cavalli’

de Wert: Ninth Book of Madrigals

de Wert: Ninth Book of Madrigals

Giaches de Wert's madrigals are such a rewarding discovery

Glazunov String Quartets: the Tippett Quartet

Glazunov String Quartets: the Tippett Quartet

... one of the most cruelly under-rated composers out there: Alexander Glazunov. Why don't we hear this much more?