Betrayal, despair and madness combine for an extraordinary production of Bellini’s rarely staged masterpiece Il Pirata at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Written when Bellini was just 26-years-old, Soprano Sonya Yoncheva casts her spell on yet another strong female character – the heroine Imogene. Her tragic lover Gualtiero is passionately portrayed by Javier Camarena. The … Read more
A new production of Donizetti’s classic “Don Pasquale” comes with a twist – ditching the usual clichés to focus instead on the complexity of the characters. The witty comedy at the Zurich Opera House stars Julie Fuchs and Johannes Martin Kränzle in the leading roles. In a plot full of twists and turns, Don Pasquale’s … Read more
Would you go vegan to save the planet? With only a few days left until 2020, some people might be thinking about their new year’s resolutions already. The non-profit organisation Veganuary is trying to get more and more people to ditch meat for the first 31 days of the next decade to help fight the … Read more
When Galway, Ireland, was named one of two European Capitals of Culture for 2020 it paved the way for a year of events and millions in funding from the Irish government, designed to raise the profile of the small city on Ireland’s western coast. But a number of other Irish cities that lobbied for the … Read more
Rod Stewart and his son Sean are facing charges after a New Year’s Eve altercation with a security guard at a Palm Beach, Florida, resort. A security guard who was working a private party in the children’s area at The Breakers resort told police that when denied access, a group “began to get loud and … Read more
January 27, 2020 will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — the Nazi-operated concentration camp where more than a million people met their deaths during World War II. Now a new film tells the story of boxer Tadeusz Pietrzykowski, who survived the Holocaust thanks to his fists. Born in Warsaw in 1917, … Read more
The Vienna Philharmonic has premiered numerous masterpieces in its 178-year history and been under the baton of the most important maestros. But it’s the New Year’s Concert which made the orchestra world-famous – with the performance being broadcast to more than 90 countries around the world. Latvian maestro Andris Nelsons, who was chosen to conduct … Read more
Singer-songwriter David Olney has died at age 71, after falling silent and dropping his head in the midst of a performance at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, Saturday night. Some news reports said he “collapsed” on stage, but that isn’t quite true: Olney simply became still on his stool, leading some … Read more
Handel first performed The Messiah in Dublin in 1742. Nearly 50 years later, Mozart re-orchestrated the work in German translation to Der Messias. And it’s Der Messias which premiered in Mozart Week in Salzburg in a production staged by American director and visual artist Robert Wilson, known as the ‘master of minimalism’. Wilson is perhaps … Read more
American author Mary Higgins Clark, known as the “Queen of Suspense” for penning dozens of thrilling bestselling novels, has died at the age of 92. “It is with great sadness we say goodbye to the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark, author of over 40 bestselling suspense titles,” her publisher Simon & Schuster announced on … Read more