NEW VIDEO: Federico Colli's London recital

This is the performance of the Schumann Piano Sonata No.1 that took pianistic London by storm last month. Federico Colli has just uploaded the entire recital to Youtube (in three chunks). I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did in the flesh. You can find the rest here. It was part of the International Piano Series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Words from the women...

I have a little guest spot in the Observer today, re the conundrum facing young female soloists in the classical music world re sounding good versus looking good... It's connected to Susannah Clapp's larger article, here.

Meanwhile Fiona Maddocks has written such a brilliant take on Glyndebourne's Der Rosenkavalier that I think we should campaign for her to receive a DBE for services to opera, wit and good sense.

[UPDATE: Also see Clare Colvin in the Sunday Express: comment piece about how this incident shows that opera is not a minority cult, but makes news and causes argument every bit as much as other art forms. It's not online yet, but here's her Rosenkavalier review for starters.)

Meet...Jeremy Denk. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow at LSO St Luke's the one and only Jeremy Denk is giving a recital of Bach's Goldberg Variations and some of Ligeti's unbelievable piano Etudes. I am interviewing him on stage afterwards. Please come and join us. Above, a taster. Here's the website (the talk is not on it, but it is definitely happening!).

TARAGATE

My tuppence ha'penny on the "Taragate" scandal is out now in the Independent. Read it here. I hope that tonight the fabulous Ms Erraught will get extra cheers at Glyndebourne - especially as she stabs Ochs in the buttock with the silver rose for treating Sophie like an animal at the market.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/of-course-visuals-count-in-opera-but-criticising-female-singers-appearance-is-wrong-9413081.html

In case you missed my interview with Tara, before all this blew up, it's here. http://jessicamusic.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/meettara-erraught.html

And you might just like to hear her sing:

The soprano who keeps her head when all around are losing theirs...

It's Sally Matthews, who stars as Blanche in the forthcoming run (the Robert Carsen production) at Covent Garden of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The opera ends with the onstage beheading of 16 nuns. 

Here's my interview with her from today's Independent.  And a little extract from Gianni Schicchi.

If you met Sally Matthews in the street you might not guess that she is one of Britain's finest sopranos. Quiet, serious and rather reserved, the 38-year-old singer is anything but an obvious star; but on stage her voice speaks for itself. Blessed with great range and a rich tone containing unusual warmth, colour and shadow, her refulgent yet pure sound is ideal for Mozart, Strauss and, not least, French music.

Matthews is about to take the leading role in Francis Poulenc's opera Dialogues des Carmélites at the Royal Opera House, amid an all-star cast conducted by Simon Rattle. Operatic success does not get much bigger than this, but she refuses to play the diva. To her, opera is teamwork; and she prefers to avoid repertoire like the more melodramatic moments of Puccini, which possibly attract a different type of personality. "Sometimes the big egos completely detract from what we're doing," she muses. "I've worked with a few of them and I didn't like it much. It should be all about the music."

The Southampton-born singer's career was launched when she won the Kathleen Ferrier Singing Competition in 1999, but it was a special opportunity at the Royal Opera House in 2001 that subsequently determined her direction...
READ THE REST HERE

'Dialogues des Carmélites', Royal Opera House, London WC2 (020 7304 4000) 29 May to 11 June