(Credit: Patric Leo) John Frederick Lampe’s “The Dragon of Wantley” (1737), with libretto by Henry Carey, is one of the sharpest English burlesques of the 18th century. By dressing up absurd English verse in the grand musical gestures associated with Handel, it gleefully mocked the Italian operas that had dominated London. The parody was so effective—and so popular—that it undercut {…}
(Photo credit: ProPhotoSTL) The Bach Society of Saint Louis unveils its 2025 season lineup. The Society’s Music Director, A. Dennis Sparger leads all performances. The season with Mozart’s “Requiem.” Molly Netter, Clara Osowski, Gene Stenger, and Paul Max Tipton are soloists with the Bach Society Chorus and Orchestra. Performance Date: October 12, 2025 The Christmas Candlelight Concert features John Rutter’s {…}
(Photo: Kathy Wittman) Once every other year, Boston becomes THE city to be in if you are a hardcore early music addict. While many festivals claim to focus on early music, they often stick to the usual crowd-pleasers—Bach, one of the Scarlatti’s, Vivaldi, etc. The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) offers something stronger. Under the leadership of Paul O’Dette and {…}
Chicago-based Bella Voce has announced its 2024–2025 season: Odysseys, a musical expedition of evocative and enduring works of the early music repertoire. The season opens with “Iberia and the Americas.” The program is a sacred polyphony from new-world peninsulares as well as composers indigenous to the Americas. The a cappella program features works by Vicente Lusitano, Francisco López Capillas, and {…}
(Photo credit: Elliot Mandel) Haymarket Opera Company has announced its 2024 season. The season kicks off with “La decollazione di San Giovanni Battista.” Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron makes her Haymarket debut, along with bass-baritone Christian Pursell as Herod and tenor Eric Ferring. Sopranos Erica Schuller and Kristen Knutson return to Haymarket. Craig Trompeter leads the chamber ensemble. Performance Date: March 22, {…}
Credit: Kathy Wittman It might be ingenuous to say, but in one’s opinion any opera that features a dragon singing a long melisma on the word “whore,” especially when it follows the ominous words “son of a,” is an unforgettable piece of theater. “The Dragon of Wantley” is based on the old legend that a dragon roamed South Yorkshire, a {…}
(Credit: Innsbruck Festival of Early Music official website) The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has announced its 2022 season, featuring three operas and a number of concerts. For the purpose of this article we will focus on the vocal works. Here is a full slate. Operas Carl Heinrich Graun’s opera “Silla” spotlights Bejun Mehta, Eleonora Bellocci, Valer Sabadus, Roberta Invernizzi, {…}