Dr Flora Willson is a classical music writer and broadcaster and a music historian at King’s College London
August 2024
Der Vampyr review – feminist reboot has plenty of blood, camp and tears
Prom 30: Bloch/NYO – a roof-raising display of virtuosity and shared joy
Subdued, sleepy and despised by snobs: how minimalist piano eclipsed classical music
Prom 21: John Wilson/Sinfonia of London review – sharp-tailored fanfare leads a million-dollar parade of US music
July 2024
Prom 14: BBCSO/Järvi/Yunchan Lim review – star pianist brings subtlety and brilliance to Beethoven
The BBC Symphony Orchestra struggled at times to match the exuberance of the young Korean, making his proms debut with the Emperor Piano concerto
First Night of the Proms review – a thrilling adventure ride
A seemingly safe ticket – Handel, Bruckner, Clara Schumann and Beethoven’s Fifth – became in the hands of Elim Chan and the BBCSO a dazzling, joyous launch night
Edgar review – Puccini was right, his biggest flop is a dud
The composer himself wrote off his second opera. In this OHP semi-staging, there are sumptuous musical moments but the major plot problems are baked in
June 2024
Nardus Williams/Elizabeth Kenny review – compelling and crystalline duo open Spitalfields festival
Premiering Roderick Williams’ song cycle about Black Tudors alongside songs from the period itself,the rising-star soprano was elegant, while the uber-lutenist poured her solos like liquid
Così fan Tutte review – self-conscious staginess is surreal fun in beautifully sung revival
The men prance about in fake moustaches while the women roll their eyes in this turbo-charged revival of Jan Philipp Gloger’s riotous take on Mozart’s opera
The Rake’s Progress review – stripped back staging foregrounds the sadness
The black humour was missing from Antony McDonald’s new production of Stravinsky’s neoclassical opera. But Rosie Aldridge’s Baba the Turk, especially, and a strong young cast made for a memorable evening.
May 2024
Platée review – from fever dream to farrago as Rameau meets reality TV
Larmes de Couteau/Full Moon in March review – two supremely weird operas
Gardner/LPO review – tautly controlled Tippett, and whoops for Seong-Jin Cho’
March 2024
The Sixteen review – alchemically distilled choral beauty
The group’s unequivocally world-class quality rang out, albeit intermittently, in this lucid performance of Duruflé’s Requiem and other 20th-century French-language works
Barber of Seville review – high energy, whimsy and Stetsons as Rossini goes to the wild west
With a dash of Monty Python and a sprinkling of Carry On, Charles Court Opera’s slimmed-down staging of the comic opera is pacy and entertaining
Big Bruckner Weekend review – there’s no escaping the challenges of his music, as well as its pleasures
Back-to-back performances of the Austrian composer’s last three symphonies plus his ‘Great’ Mass and String Quintet celebrated Bruckner’s 200th anniversary
February 2024
‘It’s quartet Disney World!’ Getting to grips with world’s biggest string quartet festival
This year’s String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam saw big names and rising stars play 113 works from Beethoven to Larcher, plus masterclasses, a DJ – and free biscuits. Can you have too much of a good thing?
January 2024
Elijah review – LSO and Pappano make it big, bold and beautiful
LPO/Heyward review – Mutter makes Hollywood legend’s Violin Concerto sparkle and fizz
