Opus Arte

This month’s newly released opera productions are dramatic masterpieces, exposing ways in which complication is implicit to the human experience, in very different ways.

The Bayreuth Festival is an annual celebration of the works of Richard Wagner. Wagner founded the festival in 1876, with the view to glean more financial and creative control over performances of his work.

Photo © Neil Rickards

The First Night of the Proms is one of the most anticipated dates of the classical music season. This year, 76 concerts are taking place at the Royal Albert Hall, in addition to a series of Chamber Proms and matinee concerts at Cadogan Hall and a selection of special events before the season culminates in the famous Last Night and the Proms in the Park, in Hyde Park on September 11.

       © Mike Hoban, 2009

The summer festival season is upon us; picnics, hazy evenings and beautiful music amidst beautiful scenery. Here is just a tiny snapshot of some of the festivals bringing classical music to life across Europe over the warmer months.

Dates have been released for the entire Royal Opera House 2010-11 season and booking is now open for all performances.

The new season kicks off with Così fan tutte, an opera buffa, or comic opera, by Mozart...

© Peter Suranyi (8/8/2009)

© Mark Kamin (Dec, 2006)

11 April 1888 – opening of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The inaugural concert featured 120 musicians and 500 choristers, performing works by Beethoven, Bach, Handel and Wagner. The building had been finished in 1886 but a stream of bizarre concerns ranging from the provision of street lighting and the necessity of filling in a small canal delayed the grand opening for almost two years.

4 April 1954 – Arturo Toscanini conducted his last live performance, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, in a concert of Wagner’s music at Carnegie Hall, in New York. He was 87 years old. Recordings with the NBC are still available, as are performances conducting the New York Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestras. He was considered within his lifetime to be the greatest conductor of the 20th century.

^{© Bain News Service (Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress))}

1 April 1930 – Death of Cosima Wagner. Cosima was the daughter of composer Franz Liszt. She married the piano virtuoso and composer Hans von Bülow in 1857 but began an affair with Richard Wagner, whom she married in 1870. After the death of her husband, she directed the festival they had started at their home, Bayreuth, until she retired in 1906.

© Leon Brocard (2/5/2005)

29 March 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall opened in London. The purpose of the new venue was the advancement of the Arts and Sciences and works of industry of all nations, as per the vision of the Royal Consort, Prince Albert. Wagner, Verdi and Elgar all conducted their first UK performances of their own works in the Royal Albert Hall, and it remains one of London’s most prestigious venues.