Legendary dramatic soprano who sang publicly for more than 70 years passes at 104. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

OA’s Artistic Director and Canberra Professor go head to head in online spat.

Warners’ wiz kids subject La Divina to the freezing water treatment. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Great voices and a concert setting helps make sense of plot. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Soprano embraced by Toscanini and Sondheim takes her final curtain call at 105. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The singer shares her audition dos and don’ts for people wanting places at her masterclasses. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

An epic concert version of Tristan and Isolde heads up David Robertson's eclectic 2015 season.

Coked up to the eyeballs, Simon Phillips' outback elixir refreshes the parts.

Don Carlos, a new Figaro and that bloody Faust all head down under next year.

Star tenor lives up to reputation and more in operatic night to remember. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Star tenor arrives for Oz concerts with bags of charisma but sans suitcases.

Although Gluck’s Orfeo of 1762 was his big reform statement, by that time the composer had spent a fair few decades committing the very sins that he so clearly wanted to stamp out. La Clemenza di Tito, a setting of the same Metastasio libretto that Mozart would prune for his own version, was in fact Gluck’s 16th opera out of around 30 that preceded Orfeo! The plot is familiar from the Mozart, as are many of the arias (it’s fascinating to hear another master try his hand at Parto, parto). Many features of the mature Gluck are in evidence, immaculate orchestration; musical invention; a sure sense of dramatic progression. Where Gluck falls down is a tendency to long-windedness – this is close on four hours of opera. L’Arte del Mondo play modern instruments in period style and Werner Ehrhardt is adept at keeping everything moving, while bringing out Gluck’s colours and ensuring recitatives are engaging. His cast is mostly excellent. Rainer Trost makes a firm-voiced, if occasionally stretched Tito while Laura Aikin is thrilling as the scheming Vitellia. As befits the central role of the conflicted Sesto, Raffaella Milanesi is the finest here, singing with ardent tone. Arantza Ezenarro makes…