Sir Graham Vick, that enfant, adolescent and, ultimately, adult terrible British opera director, has died– at the age of 67, one of Covid-19’s tragically premature victims. Controversy raged from the moment David Pountney gave him his first gig at Scottish Opera in 1977 at 24, directing Gustav Holst’s Savitri. Vick’s stars were opera icons du jour such as contralto Janet Baker and bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end.
An RA exhibit details attempts to wipe out Ukrainian culture – and what survived
The parallels between the threat to Ukrainian culture in the 1930s and today are unmistakable.