Intermezzo

English Touring Opera back in town

 
English Touring Opera begin their autumn tour on 6 October in the Royal College of Music's delightfully bijou Britten Theatre, tucked away behind the Royal Albert Hall.

There are three operas on offer.  Purcell's Fairy Queen and Handel's Xerxes are new productions; Handel's Flavio a resuscitated greatest hit from 2009. If they're anything like as good as ETO's spring tour offerings, all three nights should be unmissable.

The theatre only holds 400, so tickets have gone quickly, but there are still a handful left on the RCM website, or you can book by phone direct with ETO. The tour then continues at various venues around the country.

The Britten Theatre later hosts a Royal College of Music double bill of two rarely-heard early Bizet operas, Le docteur Miracle and Djamileh - neither exactly masterpieces but worth catching for curiosity value alone.

Bernard Haitink - live from South Kensington

This weekend Bernard Haitink visits the Royal College of Music to conduct the RCM Symphony Orchestra in Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie. There are two concerts - tonight, Friday (I'm going), and tomorrow.

Both sold out long ago, but the Saturday one will be shown live on the RCM website, starting at some time around 8.00-8.30pm. A talk by Professor Paul Banks precedes it at 6.30pm, followed by a performance of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll conducted by Mikk Murdvee at 7.30pm.

And the streaming doesn't stop there. Next Sunday a full day of Liszt, performed by students, is beamed across the internets. This is part of Lisztomania, a free festival which runs all weekend - just turn up and listen live if you're in the area.