The Independent
 
Independent
Google+
i Newspaper
 
TheIPaper
The Independent around the web
Lee Bisset (Sieglinde) and Andrew Rees (Siegmund) in Die Walkure

Classica review: Die Walküre, Longborough Festival Opera

Magic fire is being kindled in the Cotswolds. Its source? The conductor in Longborough Festival Opera’s orchestra pit, plus some of the singers on its stage. Longborough – country-house opera at its most bijou – is marking Wagner’s bicentenary with the complete Ring cycle, having built it up over the past few years with each of the tetralogy in turn. It may sound overambitious, but it proves you can do anything if you try.

David Wall pictured in 1984

Ballet dancer David Wall dies of cancer aged 67

He was the Royal Ballet's youngest male principal at 21 and danced with Dame Margot Fonteyn

Opera review: Grimes on the Beach, Aldeburgh, Suffolk - an extraordinary spectacle at the water's edge

The Independent joins 1,800 opera-goers on a freezing English beach as Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes competes with the crash of the waves and the whistling wind. The result? Spectacular

Death in Venice, Coliseum, London

Classical review: Deborah Warner's ENO Death in Venice is brilliantly revived

Death in Venice, Coliseum, London

Harrowing: Anne Sophie Duprels, Mungo Reoch, and Dan Stephenson

Classical review: Madama Butterfly - Head down to the park to see a stunning Butterfly take flight

Paul Higgins's staging of Madama Butterfly is not easy to watch, and nor should it be.

Album: De Falla/Fauré etc, Poème d'un Jour – Ailyn Pérez/Iain Burnside (Opus Arte)

Although on a label that aims to capture the intimacy and electricity of live performance, only two items in Pérez's seductive programme of French and Spanish song with pianist Ian Burnside were recorded in concert, and they are the corkers: "Je suis encor tout étourdie" and "Adieu, notre petit table" from Massenet's Manon.

Classical review: Madama Butterfly, Holland Park Opera, London

The challenge which every designer of opera at Holland Park must meet is that posed by the country-house façade, which constitutes a pre-existing and non-negotiable set. 

CD of lullabies by Hayley Westenra to be delivered to mothers who give birth on the same day as Kate

Expectant mothers who give birth on the same day as the Duchess of Cambridge can expect an extra delivery - an album of lullabies by soprano Hayley Westenra.

Presenter of Woman's Hour, Jenni Murray

Jenni Murray to conduct BBC Philharmonic orchestra - despite having no musical training

Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray has announced that she will be conducting the BBC Philharmonic orchestra - despite not being able to read music.

Opera singers Angela Gheorghiu, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Anna Netrebk

Starving opera stars need 'beef' to sing says Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Why do all female classical musicians have to be thin and sexy?

Classical review: Peter Grimes, Snape Maltings, Suffolk

It was in many ways appropriate that Aldeburgh’s Britten-centenary festival should open with a concert performance of Peter Grimes.

Caitlin Hulcup who sings the role of Calbo in Maometto Secondo Garsington Opera 2013

Classical review: Maometto secondo, Garsington Opera, Wormsley

Garsington's 'Maometto secondo' is risibly directed but superlatively sung 

Zacharias says conventional performances are ‘insane’ and a ‘provocation’

Christian Zacharias interview: 'Bach? Too boring! Chopin? So corny …'

On the eve of his Aldeburgh concerts, the pianist tells Michael Church why he loves to wind up the traditionalists and critics

Christopher Purves, right, as the cruel Walt Disney

Classical review: The Perfect American - Are you a man or a mouse, Walt?

If only the latest opera from Philip Glass had a squeak of the wit, drama and character of the great animator's creations

Album: Beethoven, Complete String Quartets Vol 2 - Belcea Quartet (Zig-Zag Territoires)

The second volume in the Belcea Quartet's Beethoven Cycle extends from the pastoralia of the third and fifth Opus 18 quartets to the tortured interior manifesto of the Grosse Fuge.

 

ES Rentals

    Career Services

    Day In a Page

    Independent Travel Shop See all offers »
    Lake Como and the Bernina Express
    Seven nights half-board from £749pp Find out more
    Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian coast
    Seven nights half-board from only £859pp Find out more
    Prague city break
    Three nights from only £199pp Find out more
    Budapest city break
    Three nights from only £229pp Find out more
    Paris by Eurostar
    Three nights from £259pp Find out more
    Babies behind bars: A Palestinian fertility doctor has become an unlikely hero by helping women conceive – even though their husbands are in jail

    Babies behind bars

    A Palestinian fertility doctor has become an unlikely hero by helping women conceive – even though their husbands are in jail
    Sonic youth: The high-pitched sound alarm for under 25s

    Sonic youth: The high-pitched sound alarm

    Is Mosquito, the alarm only under-25s can hear, a blessing or a bane?
    The art of living in small spaces: Architects are learning how to make less, more

    The art of living in small spaces

    Space in cities at a premium so architects are learning how to make less, more...
    Special report: The story of Sir Mervyn King's reign at the Bank

    The story of Sir Mervyn King's reign at the Bank

    After four 'nice' years as Governor of Bank of England, things turned decisively nasty
    Zombie nation: Our enduring fascination with a world full of death and destruction

    Zombie nation: Our fascination with death and destruction

    A new season of shows on Radio 4 is inspired by dark tales of future dystopias. Meanwhile, zombies are marauding in the multiplexes...
    Martin Stephen: 'Ofsted says comprehensives are failing the most able but teaching bright children isn't rocket science'

    'Teaching bright children isn't rocket science'

    It doesn't take a selective system to nurture the best minds, says a former head of St Paul's boys' school.
    The retail empires strike back: Can new technology lure us back to the high street?

    Can technology lure us back to the high street?

    The high street has been bruised and battered by online firms but in-store technology is helping to enliven the retail experience...
    The 10 Best new smartphones

    The 10 Best new smartphones

    Photos, films, music, apps and browsing - the latest mobiles can do it all
    Jenson Button: Downbeat driver cannot wait to put season behind him

    Jenson Button: Downbeat driver cannot wait to put season behind him

    McLaren man admits 'failed gamble' with car has left him pinning hopes on 2014 campaign
    James Lawton: Firmer fist will be required to win Champions Trophy final battle with stouter foe

    James Lawton

    Firmer fist will be required to win Champions Trophy final battle with stouter foe
    'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

    The true effect of the badger cull

    'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
    Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

    First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

    Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
    Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

    Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

    After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
    Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

    Steve Tongue

    Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
    Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

    Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

    Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over