Reaction Contributor
Saturday, 30 May 2020
Franz Schreker? Neither had I. Heard of him, that is. Admit it. You hadn’t either. What? You’ve got a comprehensive …
Continue reading "Lost Classic – Franz Schreker’s Der Schmied von Gent"
By Gerald Malone
Saturday, 16 May 2020
Flamboyant opera rebel, Sir Peter Jonas, has died at the age of 73. As Director of English National Opera from …
Continue reading "Remembering Sir Peter Jonas – opera’s enfant terrible"
By Gerald Malone
Friday, 8 May 2020
“Clap, damn you, clap”! Benjamin Britten, enraged, leaned out of his box at Covent Garden and railed at the lukewarm …
Continue reading "Music for a new Elizabethan age – Britten’s Gloriana"
By Gerald Malone
Saturday, 25 April 2020
Jennifer Lucy Bate, celebrated organist and Olivier Messiaen’s most trusted interpreter of his complex oeuvres for the instrument, has died …
By Gerald Malone
Saturday, 18 April 2020
Much ado about Shakespeare – that just about sums up the Wexford Festival Opera 2020 programme. Huzzah! General Booking, that …
Continue reading "Shakespeare on crack at the Wexford Festival Opera this October"
By Gerald Malone
Friday, 10 April 2020
Believers and non-believers alike can exalt in the music of Holy Week. Whether it be an affirmation of faith, or …
Continue reading "Radio Reaction: Essential Holy Week listening"
By Gerald Malone
Saturday, 28 March 2020
A bad ferry crossing nowadays results only in vitriolic lines posted, in tantrum, on Trip Advisor: “Just because people don’t …
Continue reading "Wagner’s hellish sea crossing on stage"
By Gerald Malone
Thursday, 26 March 2020
The small, white West Highland Terrier, ears pricked, tail erect, black-button eyes far gone in drink, paused his grunting frottage …
Continue reading "Radio Reaction: Dog days as opera goes dark"
By Gerald Malone
Saturday, 21 March 2020
Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, brought the house down. Just by turning up. At Washington DC’s Kennedy Center for …
Continue reading "Opera review – Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Delila at the Washington National Opera"
By Gerald Malone
