Nicholas Kenyon

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Nicholas Kenyon

Nothing about Wagner's Parsifal is normal. It certainly isn't a normal opera, though countless directors have tried to make it one. Richard Wagner created his final major work, first performed in 1882, as a "stage consecration play", casting its narrative of redemption in the form of a long, unfolding ritual. "Here, time becomes space", as one line in the libretto has it.

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Nicholas Kenyon

Operetta rules in the current season at Scottish Opera: following the well-received Merry Widow comes a sparky double-bill of satire old and new, combining Gilbert and Sullivan's first hit, Trial by Jury of 1875, with the newly commissioned A Matter of Misconduct!, written by librettist Emma Jenkins and conductor Toby Hession around the topical travails of a scandal-hit politician.

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Nicholas Kenyon

After the death of Henry Purcell in 1695, his friend the organist Henry Hall wrote a notable couplet: “Sometimes a HERO in an Age appears/But scarce a PURCELL in a Thousand Years”. Unfortunately, the prediction turned into near-prophesy, as English music produced no-one to rival Purcell’s genius, arguably until Elgar, 200 years later. Purcell died far too young at 36, but he had made his mark.

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Nicholas Kenyon

Revolutionary, cosmopolitan and, above all, fun - there is much to learn from the great English composerAfterthe death of Henry Purcell in 1695, his friend the organist Henry Hall wrote a notable couplet: "Sometimes a HERO in an Age appears/But scarce a PURCELL in a Thousand Years". Unfortunately, the prediction turned into near-prophesy, as English music produced no-one to rival Purcell's genius, arguably until Elgar, 200 years later. Purcell died far too young at 36, but he had made his mark.

1 month ago | telegraph.co.uk | Nicholas Kenyon

One major advantage of unveiling a production of Wagner's Ring cycle year by year over four years is that you don't need to decide at the beginning how it will end. The director of the Royal Opera's new year-by-year staging, Barrie Kosky, has said that he does not know how this story will turn out by 2027: in this second instalment, his vision is an unvaryingly bleak and tortured picture of damaged nature and toxic relationships.