Appropriate – Belasco Theatre ​ Call me shallow, but I need someone to root for. I need at least one character in a play who, if I met them, would be worth my time, one person I’d be interested to know, one kindred spirit whose welfare and future I care about. My problem with Appropriate, an otherwise admirable play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins which many Broadway sages are mooting to win the Best Play Tony this year, is that all the people in it are simply awful. My other problem with them is that they all shout a lot and what they are shouting about is always nasty, frequently ra ..read more

Ariadne auf Naxos is the fruit of the successful creative partnership between Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal who came up with this eccentric idea after quite a few rewrites. Part of the unique flavour of this, the second version, derives from Strauss’s brilliant juxtaposition of low comedy and high tragedy. In the prologue, he is at home depicting the quarrels and chaos of backstage theatrical life. In the opera, he slips easily from the heroic style in which Ariadne’s part is composed to the buffooning of the commedia dell’arte characters. The combination strikes at ..read more

From our agony aunt: Dear Alma I played viola in a good orchestra for ten years until I broke my shoulder on the ski slopes and that was that. There was a job vacancy in orchestra management but I couldn’t face sleeping with the enemy. I was 35, married +2, with no other skills or qualifications. I had six months of sleepless nights. My father-in-law had a business selling high-end sports gear. I took over the online side and turned a family company with two downtown stores into a global outlet. We bought a bigger house, had two more kids and gave thanks for our good fortune. The only smudge o ..read more

Insights: Black Dancers in Ballet – Sharing a Rich Trans-Atlantic Legacy Click here to register  April 25th at 2pm ET, 7pm GMT. On April 25th, live from New York AND London, we are invited to join the livestream of a special event with The royal Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Black British Ballet,  including a discussion moderated by Norton Owen. The program will feature performance excerpts, a panel discussion, and an interactive Q&A from both London and New York City. The program is FREE to watch live on YouTube and Facebook! Register now to receive the links on the day of ..read more

The flamboyant US countertenor, 41, now has an opera company to call his own. In a bold move Opera Philadelphia, which seemed to be in retreat, has reached for an in-demand performer to relight its fire. Costanzo’s title will be General Director and President, starting June 1, 2024. In a social media message he says: ‘I’m ready. Are you?’ Here’s the official stuff: “We set the goal of finding a new, creative leader who would be capable of taking Opera Philadelphia to even greater levels of artistic and business success. Of the nearly 40 impressive candidates reviewed, Anthony Roth Costanzo ros ..read more

Message received: Four long-standing musicians Rob Shepley, Richard Wallace, Alexander Marks and Jonathan Small will be retiring from the Orchestra in the coming weeks. Together, they have a combined total of over 160 years performing with the Orchestra and will be sorely missed by everyone at Liverpool Philharmonic. Ahead of the 2024/25 season, three new musicians will be joining the Orchestra. Sophie McQueen will be Associate Principal Second Violin, Joana Correia Rodrigues, Second Violin and Matthew Brett, a former member of the Liverpool Philharmonic’s Emerging Professionals Fellowship pro ..read more

The soprano Danielle DeNiese tweets: INCREDIBLY PROUD to share with you a major career moment: I’m on the cover of the one and only @Tatlermagazine !!! My first mainstream fashion magazine cover!!! An amazing shoot which took place earlier this year at glorious @glyndebourne where I will star as “The Merry Widow” (the ultimate rom com of opera) this summer! Every diva’s dream? Next story: Cotswold Wives? The post Major career moment for Lady Glyndebourne appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

The concertmaster of Opéra National de Bordeaux, Matthieu Arama, is moving to Sydney to take the hot seat at Opera Australia. The job has been unsettled since Jun Yi Ma left two years ago after a players’ vote of no confidence. His place was taken by Acting Concertmaster Huy-Nguen Bui but that has not worked out in any permanent fashion. Matthieu will find it’s all to play for. The post Opera Australia finds a French concertmaster appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

With David Pickard’s departure as Proms director, control of the season reverts to the head of Radio 3, Sam Jackson. Hannah Donat, Artistic Producer of the Proms for the last seven years, has been promoted to Director of Artistic Planning. This restores the natural order. Pickard was hired nine years ago after the BBC DG, Tony Hall, installed as head of R3 a former civil servant, Alan Davey, with no programming knowhow. The post BBC recasts top team at Proms appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

Dissatisfaction with the Cleveland Institute of Music has now boiled over into a parents revold. Here’s what they tell slippedisc.com: Dear Mr Lebrecht and Slippedisc, We are a group of concerned parents of Cleveland Institute of Music students. As you know, CIM has been in a downward spiral for the last few years under its current leadership, but especially this past academic year with the resignation of trumpet faculty member Michael Sachs in the fall, the 91 percent faculty vote of no confidence in President Paul Hogle and Provost Scott Harrison, the mid-semester termination of viola facult ..read more