John Wyver writes: With the 1956 BBC production of Arthur Benjamin's commissioned opera Mañana currently and pleasingly on BBCiPlayer, I have written blog posts about the backstory to the project and about the production as television. This more
John Wyver writes: In a previous post I sketched the backstory of the BBC-commissioned opera Mañana, composed by Arthur Benjamin and produced for television in February 1956. Thanks to the seventieth anniversary, a digitally restored version of this more
John Wyver writes: Late on Sunday night, BBC Four brought to the screen the 1956 BBC production of Arthur Benjamin's 75-minute opera Mañana. The transmission was 70 years to the day after its television premiere, and the recording is now more
John Wyver writes: the evening of Saturday 11 December 1937 featured an ambitious half-hour broadcast of act 3 of Verdi's Aida given by the Matania Operatic Society. Opera was an important element of the transmissions from Alexandra Palace, although this more
On Wednesday the Guardian reported that the Edinburgh Festival was offering a refund to opera lovers who had purchased tickets for Christophe Honoré’s production of Così fan tutte (above). First seen at Aix-en-Provence earlier this month, the production is apparently a “provocative more
The New York Times online is developing a smart interactive format for the discussion of big cultural events. You can get a good sense of their approach from Circling the 'Ring'. Earlier this month The Metropolitan Opera started more