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Edward Seckerson
Writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson is chief classical music and opera critic for The Independent. He wrote and presented the long-running BBC Radio 3 series Stage & Screen, in which he interviewed many of the most prominent writers and stars of musical theatre. He appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and 4. On television, he has commentated a number of times at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He has published books on Mahler and the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and has been on Gramophone Magazine's review panel for many years. Edward presented the 2007 series of the Radio 4 music quiz Counterpoint. He has interviewed everyone from Leonard Bernstein to Liza Minelli; from Paul McCartney to Pavarotti: from Julie Andrews to Jessye Norman.
In no particular order....
English National Opera: "Riders to the Sea" - Fiona Shaw's "quietly devastating" staging of Vaughan Williams' one act opera; a fitting tribute to to the late lamented Richard Hickox who did so much for the cause of English music.
English National Opera at the Young Vic: "Lost Highway" - stunning David Lynch homage.
Royal Opera: Strauss/von Hofmannstahl "Elektra" - an exceptional revival which simply dug deeper into the subtext of this dazzling shocker. Extraordinary work from conductor Mark Elder and a brave, intensely human, performance from Susan Bullock.
Stravinsky "The Rite of Spring"/ London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vladimir Jurowski - one of those rare performances that totally re-evaluates a modern classic.
Daniel Barenboim/ Beethoven Sonatas on the South Bank - challenging, dangerous, sublime. Truly an event. Who says great performances don't transcend technique?
Schubert "Winterreise"/ Alice Coote/ Julius Drake at Wigmore Hall - the amazing Alice Coote crosses sexual boundaries to search for personal truths in the winter of discontent.
Honourable mention: the sexy and talented Anna Netrebko storming the Royal Opera as the sickly and impassioned Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata". Can she build upon her prodigious gifts or will she succumb (as so many do) to international stardom and become yet another fashionable side-show? We shall see.
English National Opera: "Riders to the Sea" - Fiona Shaw's "quietly devastating" staging of Vaughan Williams' one act opera; a fitting tribute to to the late lamented Richard Hickox who did so much for the cause of English music.
English National Opera at the Young Vic: "Lost Highway" - stunning David Lynch homage.
Royal Opera: Strauss/von Hofmannstahl "Elektra" - an exceptional revival which simply dug deeper into the subtext of this dazzling shocker. Extraordinary work from conductor Mark Elder and a brave, intensely human, performance from Susan Bullock.
Stravinsky "The Rite of Spring"/ London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vladimir Jurowski - one of those rare performances that totally re-evaluates a modern classic.
Daniel Barenboim/ Beethoven Sonatas on the South Bank - challenging, dangerous, sublime. Truly an event. Who says great performances don't transcend technique?
Schubert "Winterreise"/ Alice Coote/ Julius Drake at Wigmore Hall - the amazing Alice Coote crosses sexual boundaries to search for personal truths in the winter of discontent.
Honourable mention: the sexy and talented Anna Netrebko storming the Royal Opera as the sickly and impassioned Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata". Can she build upon her prodigious gifts or will she succumb (as so many do) to international stardom and become yet another fashionable side-show? We shall see.
