Maestro Antonio Pappano is knighted for his services to opera in the UK. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The building catches fire in New Year’s pyrotechnic display. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Fiona Campbell’s Handel and Guy Noble’s delightful comic song, complete with a surprise tap-dance solo. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Selections to delight a die-hard classical music lover and broaden the horizons of a novice.

The brilliant performers who brought the house down in 2011, as chosen by Limelight readers.

ABC Classic FM's complete list of the Top 100 with commentary and performance footage.

The 100 greatest classical albums ever featured in Limelight, with complete reviews and audio excerpts.

The legendary American soprano brings jazz and Broadway classics Down Under. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The experimental director brought the “creative genius” of classical composers to life on screen. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Australian countertenor David Hansen might be the first male singer in over 250 years to tackle the role of Ottone.

What is the opera singer Nathalie Stutzmann doing on the cover of her new album with a baton in her hand? She may be a Prima Donna, but she’s certainly wearing the pants for this recording, in which she sings with and conducts her own period ensemble, Orfeo 55, even wielding a tambourine on the final track. The French contralto is undoubtedly a musicians’ singer, and her insights into this repertoire, as a frequent star of Naïve’s Vivaldi opera edition, are invaluable. Prima Donna emphatically reclaims these arias from the castrati, acknowledging Vivaldi’s own preference for the warmth of the female contralto voice. He would have loved Stutzmann’s – smooth and velvety across all registers and precise in coloratura despite a rich vibrato. Her focus, however, seems to be sculpting a fine melodic line rather than building the kind of dramatic intensity needed in Juditha’s Agitata infido flatu. She is at her most persuasive, then, luxuriating in the slower tempi of Cor mio che prigion sei and Transit aetas. But some high-energy moments impress: lively recitative in Gemo in un punto e fremo, a peppy L’innocenza sfortunata (this version is the most fun I’ve heard on disc) and… Continue reading Get…

The glamorous Korean soprano on “flirting” with her audience, meeting Dame Joan, and singing with her dog. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in