Charles Woodhouse News
composer
- England
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2024-04-25
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2022-02-23 09:51:49
The cycle of life: Jamie Manton's new production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen at English National Opera
[…] progress of life. This sense of life's cycle was emphasised by having younger versions of both the Vixen, the Forester and the Forester's Wife. The young Vixen is a character in Janacek's original opera, but by having a teenage one, with the human counterparts (all of whom reoccurred in the action) gave us a strong sense of life's cycle. Something highlighted too by the Dragonfly, who reoccurred regularly incarnated by Sarayam Mayer (child), Tyler Woodhouse (adolescent) and Joy Constantinides (mature and elderly). Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen - ENO (Photo Clive Barda) There were plenty of children and young people in the production, cast through the ENO Engage programme, the ENO Opera Squad and ENO Youth Programme and their partner schools. What Manton did do however was to keep the cutesy kiddie-winkie element down to a minimum, the children were part of a larger scheme. […]
2021-01-23 09:13:36
Obsessed with the symphonic form: composer David Matthews on the symphony and the recent recording of his eighth on Signum Classics with Jac van Steen and the BBC Philharmonic
[…] around 50 minutes or so, which makes it about the length of Britten's Turn of the Screw. The libretto was written by his friend Roger Scruton (1944-2020), the philosopher and writer, a not uncontroversial figure. Scruton saw Act One in the workshop but unfortunately died before David finished Act Two. As well as being a writer and a friend, Scruton was also a composer and his own opera Violet (about the life of Violet Gordon Woodhouse) was premiered by Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2005. David describes Scruton's libretto as good, and very easy to set. The subject of Anna came about as both David and Scruton were associated with an underground university which Scruton supported in the Czech Republic before the revolution (Scruton would be expelled from the country in 1985; in 1998 he was awarded the Czech Republic's Medal of Merit (First Class) by President Václav […]
2019-11-11 10:09:29
Gems and discoveries: Piano Quartets from the Rossetti Ensemble at Conway Hall
[…] British exceptionalism': Purcell's King Arthur re-thought in an engaging performance and accompany CDs from Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli (★★★★★) - CD & Opera review A ravishing and heart-rending evening: Massenet's Manon from the Met, Live in HD (★★★★) - opera review A remarkable reinvention: Verdi's Don Carlos in French in Flanders (★★★★½) - opera review Eccentric, passionate harpsichordist, in a ménage à cinq: the lives of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse - feature article Home
2019-11-11 08:43:48
Come into the Garden - Samling Artist Showcase 2019 at Wigmore Hall
[…] British exceptionalism': Purcell's King Arthur re-thought in an engaging performance and accompany CDs from Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli (★★★★★) - CD & Opera review A ravishing and heart-rending evening: Massenet's Manon from the Met, Live in HD (★★★★) - opera review A remarkable reinvention: Verdi's Don Carlos in French in Flanders (★★★★½) - opera review Eccentric, passionate harpsichordist, in a ménage à cinq: the lives of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse - feature article An intoxicating concert - that is the magic of song: Walt Whitman's bicentenary celebrated at London Song Festival (★★★★★) - concert review Home
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