Social media via Strauss: Baseless Fabric’s Die Fledermaus
“I’m not saying I’m Batman. I’m just saying nobody has ever seen me and Batman in a room together,” reads the slogan on trendy Falke’s ironic t-shirt. Furious at a recent…
A game of two halves: Ariadne auf Naxos at Longborough
Should divine visions of philosophical beauty be cut short by practical things like food or fireworks? Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera of two worlds in collision, and Anthony…
Batman robbing: Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Fulham Opera
Fulham Opera, noted in recent years for their serious and compelling Wagner and Verdi output, are also not shy of comedy (as demonstrated by their very successful Falstaff). Die Fledermaus…
Blame game: Strauss’ Daphne at Grimeborn
Daphne comes from one of the most controversial (read: embarrassing) periods of Strauss’ life, when he continued to compose under the Nazi regime, rather than taking a principled stand (or moving…
Romancing the stones
The desecration of monuments is a hot topic today: ISIS and other actors in the Middle East are being regularly, widely and rightly castigated for their destruction of world heritage…
There will be blood! Christine Goerke’s Elektra stuns at the BBC Proms
A masterfully penetrating performance of Strauss’ Elektra at this year’s BBC Proms, conducted by the renowned Semyon Bychkov and starring Christine Goerke, whose command of this fiercest of roles has drawn…
Method in its madness: Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne
To say that the 2013 Glyndebourne production of Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos has received “mixed” reviews would be an understatement. The reviews have, in fact, been terrible. So terrible, that…