French Music by British Artists
Sounds Across the Channel
Poignantly, just as Britain is cutting its ties – and opportunities – with mainland Europe, a number of recordings of French classical music performed by British artists have just been released. British musicians have particular reason to regret the terrible … Read More
Proust, le Concert Retrouvé
A Musical Evening with Marcel Proust
The writer Marcel Proust put on a private concert at the Paris Ritz on July 1, 1907 for a select group of friends and leading lights of Parisian high society. The evening appears to have been not only a musical … Read More
Orchestre National de France
Pre-Atonal Music from Webern & Berg
Many regular concert-goers will have been suffering from the lack of live music-making in Paris and throughout the world during the pandemic. On the classical music scene, while opera lovers have been able to enjoy various streamed events, new orchestral … Read More
Hilary Hahn: Paris
Paris Revisited in Music
The moment music label Deutsche Grammophon announced a new album by violinist Hilary Hahn entitled Paris, I leapt at the chance to bring it to the attention of Paris Update’s readers. Don’t expect to hear a medley of string arrangements … Read More
Saint-Saëns: Sonates & Trio
Quintessentially French Chamber Music
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) is a quintessentially Parisian composer. Born in the city, he went on to study at the Paris Conservatory before eventually becoming the organist at the glorious La Madeleine Church. Despite being a keen traveler, he lived in … Read More
Marina Rebeka: Elle
Escaping Confinement with French Arias
My attempts to write a review of the Paris Opera’s production of Jules Massenet’s opera Manon have been continuously thwarted during the last few weeks. First, opening night at the Bastille Opera House was canceled because of a strike, then … Read More
Philharmonie de Paris
Concerted Sound in Disconcerting Hall
The group of concert halls located at the Cité de la Musique in Paris’s Parc de la Villette, known as the Philharmonie, has now been open for almost five years, but for various reasons, I had never managed to attend … Read More
Don Carlo
Political Intrigue at the Spanish Court
Paris has a close connection with Verdi’s most ambitious and – in the five-act version now at the Bastille Opera – longest work. A French-language version of Don Carlo was first performed in the city in March 1867, with an … Read More
Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Making the Classics Sexy Again
When he walked out onto the stage of Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet Sunday afternoon, he was greeted with whoops and hollers, just like any rock star, but although he may look like one, Teodor Currentzis is no such thing. He … Read More
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
The Hazards of the Opera Stage
With the necessary fusion of so many musical and theatrical forces, staging opera can be a hazardous business, as was demonstrated at the second performance of Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of … Read More