Joel Ivany: "We're throwing a salon."

Interview

"You're going to be mingling in the lobby and in the auditorium, and you're going to be meeting these people from the salon, which are the students from the school." It's a "play-within-a-play" idea, where the Cendrillon audiences live in the same world as the singers who perform the opera. The members of the cast each have two roles to play: their part in Viardot's opera, and the "character" who exists offstage during the salon evening.

Talking with directors: Frederic Wake-Walker

Interview

"I love going into these places and working with kids," says Wake-Walker. "It's wonderful. I learn so much." He jokes that working primary school students is "pretty much the same" as directing the singers at La Scala, and adds that for any aspiring director, young people offer valuable learning experiences. "Kids ask questions that even the pros at La Scala are sometimes a little bit embarrassed to ask."

The TSO does Danny Elfman's music from the films of Tim Burton

Review

They played from Pee-Wee, Batman, Batman Returns (the Catwoman theme was excellent), Dark Shadows, Big Fish, Alice in Wonderland, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and of course, Edward Scissorhands. The TSO under the baton of Ted Sperling were in top form.

In review: Simone Piazzola at Wigmore Hall

Review

The pair paid homage to their Italian roots with a programme of Donizetti, Verdi, Mozart, and songs by Paolo Tosti. In fact, the Tosti songs that Piazzola and Vaccaro chose were first performed in London - and did you know: Tosti taught at the Royal Academy of Music, became a British citizen in 1906, and was knighted by King Edward VII in 1908?

Don't miss: Glory Denied at Nashville Opera

Interview

"The moment I enjoy most though, is again in Act II, when Young Alyce sings a letter she has written to Young Jim after he is first stationed in Vietnam. The letter is filled with optimism and love, and it captures those small mundane details of life that so often touch our hearts most deeply."

Lohengrin Redux: an opera fanfic contest

News

"Summon your muse and tell us what happens to Lohengrin after he gets on the swan-less boat at the end of the opera. Did his boat turn into a time machine and bring him to America's shores to clean up in the aftermath of our presidential election? Perhaps Lohengrin jumps ship entirely and decides he'd rather dance to Tchaikovsky ballet music."

Talking with singers: Elza van den Heever

Interview

"'Casta Diva' alone is of course that one moment of magic that craves to be sung to absolute precision - problem is, at least for me, that the aria is truly very low in the soprano tessitura and makes it just incredibly difficult and uncomfortable if you're nervous. It’s at the top of the show where you are most vulnerable and scared and nerves often get in the way."

...and then it was November

Op-ed

You may be the title-holder of a thousand singing prizes. You still didn't fit the bill. You may have been the toast of the town at the end of last season - but you still didn't fit the bill. You may be the most delightful person to work with - but you still didn't fit the bill. You may have received nothing but glowing reviews - but you still didn't fit the bill.

6 operas to creep you out

Humour

The obvious choice, really. There's the creepy castle; the weird, cold relationship between Bluebeard and his new bride; the secret rooms; the clear intimacy issues; the dead ex-wives. The music, though, is the scariest thing about Bartòk's opera; the score sounds like something Bernard Herrmann would have written for a Hitchcock film, and it seems to waver unnaturally between uncomfortably soft and impossibly loud. Kind of like a scary, abusive husband.

In review: Danielle de Niese and Julius Drake

Review

The pair gave us songs by Wolf, Bizet, and Grieg. A personal favourite of ours, the Wolf songs were where Drake sang the most. His playing guided us through these densely packed songs, noting every subtle detail in Wolf's writing without belabouring. De Niese was funny, touching, and real, and Drake pulled off the "bad violin" gag in "Wie lange schon war immer mein Verlangen" from the Italienisches Liederbuch.