Kent Nagano superbly masters the challenges presented by this score, shapes the dynamics with subtle intensity, and casts the score in a mellow glow. As Marfa, the spurned lover of Ivan Khovansky‘s son Andrei, Doris Soffel unfolds such a rich palette of sonorities, from the pathos of the lower ranges to shaded discant heights, that “one is tempted to speak of a Russian mezzo”. The final chorus, which Mussorgsky did not compose, is played in the orchestrally transparent version of Igor Stravinsky – the third great Russian composer who contributed to making “Khovanshchina“ a timeless, gripping stage work. With his stripped-down sets and historicising costumes, director Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the new voices of contemporary Russian theatre, builds a bridge to the political present. A lesson in history and music!

Handel's 1724 opera Tamerlano followed the success of his previous year's Giulio Cesare with another...

Viva Vivaldi! is a concert by the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli interspersing arias from the...

The celebrated mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli joins Bryn Terfel for a recital of arias and duets reco...

John Eliot Gardiner conducts Gluck’s 1776 French version of “Alceste” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in ...

In the awe-inspiring Teatro Olimpico,Vicenza, Cecilia Bartoli, recognised as one of the best singers...

Performed live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Gluck's opera in three acts is conducted by ...

A production of Mozart's opera recorded live at Zurich Opera House in 2000. Cecilia Bartoli leads an...

Gustav Von Aschenbach, a passionate composer, arrives in Venice as a result of wanderlust and there ...

Jules Massanet's lyrical opera is transformed into a superb film production by Petr Weigl, shot on l...

Frantisek Filip film version of the Smetana opera.

This tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigol...

Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in Stepháne Braunschweig's production of Richard W...

This May 2010 production of Massenet's 1910 opera "Don Quichotte" marked the opera's centenary and a...

This set has Edita Gruberova singing in top form, all her scooping cast aside, which one finds in ab...

Donald Runnicles directs the San Francisco Opera in this lavish production of Giacomo Puccini’s fina...