Hugo Shirley

1 month ago | gramophone.co.uk | Hugo Shirley

⭐⭐⭐⭐Salome at the Theater Magdeburg (Photo: Edyata Dufaj)When Theater Magdeburg staged the first German performance of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Underground in 2022, it somewhat unexpectedly staked a claim as a major venue for performances of veteran Irish composer’s works.

Nov 20, 2024 | gramophone.co.uk | Hugo Shirley

Ute Selbig as Anna, Maria Bengtsson as Christine and Christoph Pohl as Hofkapellmeister Robert Storch | © Semperoper Dresden/Monika RitterhausA century after it was first unveiled, Richard Strauss's 'bourgeois comedy' Intermezzo, still feels bracingly – even uncomfortably – modern.

Oct 21, 2024 | bachtrack.com | Hugo Shirley

Es gibt nur wenige großartigere Gebäude in Österreich als die riesige Barockanlage des Stifts Sankt Florian. Man kann nur erahnen, welchen Eindruck es auf den 12-jährigen Anton Bruckner machte, als er am 7. Juni 1837, dem Todestag seines Vaters, von seiner verzweifelten Mutter dorthin gebracht wurde, um sich als Chorsänger einzuschreiben. Heute ist es wahrscheinlich die erste Station auf jeder Bruckner-Pilgerreise.

Oct 21, 2024 | bachtrack.com | Hugo Shirley

There are few grander buildings in Austria than the vast Baroque complex of the Sankt Florian monastery. One can only imagine the impression it had on the 12-year-old Anton Bruckner when he was brought there by his desperate mother on 7th June 1837, the day of his father’s death, to enrol as a chorister. Today it’s probably the first stop on any Bruckner pilgrimage.

Jun 11, 2024 | gramophone.co.uk | Hugo Shirley

⭐️⭐️⭐️Claus Guth’s new production of Khovanshchina at the Staatsoper in Berlin was originally scheduled for 2020. That plan fell foul to Covid, but, as the director notes in a programme interview, if any work is suited to such an enforced long gestation, it’s Mussorgsky’s grand, unfinished historical epic. Those four years saw not only the pandemic, though, but also other events which have shifted the world’s attitude towards Russia and its history.