As I emerge from the morass of bureacracy surrounding university exams, the principal task of the summer is to work on the manuscript for my next book. That said, there will be a good deal of music in performance to which I can look forward, as well as the living hell of London during the vainglorious Olympic Games to dread. The programme will doubtless prove subject to change, but here is what lies in store until early September (i.e., the end of the Proms):
What remains of June
Wigmore Hall recital from Susan Graham and Malcolm Martineau (tonight)
Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal College of Music
July
Wigmore Hall piano recital, Debussy and Liszt, from Bertrand Chamayou
Royal Opera Les Troyens (British theatrical knights Antonio Pappano and David McVicar and a starry cast, albeit minus Jonas Kaufmann)
Wigmore Hall: Thomas Oliemans and Malcolm Martineau: Mahler, Strauss, Duparc, and Debussy
Wigmore Hall: Stephen Kovacevich plays Beethoven and Schubert
Prom 9: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/Barenboim - Beethoven and Boulez
Prom 10: WEDO/Barenboim - Beethoven and Boulez
Prom 11: Les Troyens (again from the Royal Opera, but this time in concert, again alas without Jonas Kaufmann)
Prom 12: WEDO/Barenboim - Beethoven and Boulez
Prom 13: WEDO/Barenboim - Beethoven and Boulez
Prom 17 (late night) WEDO - Beethoven piano quintet and Le marteau sans maître with Hilary Summers, from the baton-less hands of the composer himself
Prom 18: WEDO/Barenboim - Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (apparently this and Les Troyens are somehow related to the Olympics, but few of us understand how or why)
Eugene Onegin from Opera Holland Park
August
Bayreuth Festival
Stefan Herheim's Parsifal, alas for the last time (previous reviews here and here). This time Philippe Jordan, rather than Daniele Gatti, will conduct.
The Flying Dutchman, in a new production by Jan Phillip Glogen, conducted by Christian Thielemann
A second chance to see Lohengrin, from Andris Nelsons and Hans Neuenfels (previous review here)
Salzburg Festival
Two Schubert sonatas from Daniel Barenboim
VPO/Muti - Liszt and Berlioz's Messe solennelle
Carmen, directed and choreographed by Aletta Collins, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and at last, with Jonas Kaufmann
Renaud Capuçon/Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra/Ivor Bolton - Mozart and Haydn
La bohème, the VPO conducted by Daniele Gatti, and directed by Damiano Michieletto
Beethoven from Maurizio Pollini (the final three sonatas once again!)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann's masterpiece, Die Soldaten, the VPO conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, in a new staging by Alvis Hermanis
Elsewhere
Hänsel und Gretel from Co-opera Co.
Mittwoch aus Licht from Birmingham Opera (not quite the premiere, but one of the premiere performances)
Prom 57: Zimmermann/Gustav Mahler YO/Gatti - Wagner, Berg, Strauss, and Ravel
Christine Schäfer recites Pierrot Lunaire, along with Debussy's sonata for flute, viola, and harp
September
Prom 75: VPO/Haitink - Haydn and Strauss's Alpine Symphony
