April 2021
On our cover this month is Peter Mattei, the sought-after Swedish baritone profiled in the issue. The baritonal theme continues with Thomas Hampson, who in our ‘Great singers in great roles’ series talks in depth about Giorgio Germont, probably the least well-understood character in Verdi’s La traviata. Janet Baker leads our tribute to the conductor Steuart Bedford, who died in February. We mark the 125th anniversary of the death of the neglected composer Antonio Cagnoni, and look at the fascination that both Richard Wagner and J.M.W. Turner had with a particular spot on Lake Lucerne.
This is also the month in which we start previewing the summer festivals, showing resilience in planning their seasons after a year of disruption. Our features include interviews with festival makers and artists:
- Ville Matvejeff, artistic director of the Savonlinna Opera Festival
- Netia Jones, who directs at Garsington and Santa Fe this year
- The composer Lucia Ronchetti, new artistic director of the Musica Biennale
- John Tomlinson and the other opera singers in Keith Warner’s King Lear at the Grange Festival
- Nevill Holt’s Annie Lydford and Nicholas Chalmers
- ‘For the record’ with the great tenor Ernesto Palacio, Sovrintendente of Pesaro’s Rossini Opera Festival
We review live performances wherever they have been happening and cover new recordings and books. Our Disc of the Month is John Eccles’s Semele on the Academy of Ancient Music’s label.
Also this month all print subscribers will be receiving the 2020 index with their April issue
Available online March 09, in-store March 16
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