Palau de la Música Catalana 2017-18 Review: Mark Padmore, Julius Drake and the Cor de Cambra del Palau Shine With Schubert & Britten

In most cities, different musical organizations persist in such aggressive rivalry it makes the Montagues and Capulets look like kissing cousins. Not so in Barcelona where the three major performing venues, namely the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Palau de a Música Catalana and the L’Auditori have come together under a coordinating entity called Barcelona Obertura to make music in the {…}

Gran Theatre del Liceu 2017-18 Review – Andrea Chénier: Sondra Radvanovsky Steals the Show From Jonas Kaufmann in Barcelona

There is something of Halley’s comet about Umberto Giordano’s most famous opera “Andrea Chénier.” It reappears every so often (happily not so infrequently as every 75 years) excites and dazzles, leaves verismo fanatics in paroxysms of delight, then vanishes back into the operatic firmament. With the recent notable exception at La Scala, productions of “Andrea Chénier” have invariably been connected to {…}