After the usual tedious technical glitches, details of the Barbican Centre's 2012 - 2013 classical music season are finally up on their website.
It begins on a high as Sir Colin Davis celebrates his 85th birthday with the piano partnership of Radu Lupu and Mitsuko Uchida on 27 September 2012. But there are no visits from European symphony orchestras (presumably three concerts from the highly-paid LA Phil don't come cheap) and far fewer must-sees than in previous years.
The main strengths in the recitals programme, which includes a one week residency from Juan Diego Florez and solo recitals from Elina Garanca, Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato (who also joins JDF in his residency). Pianists include the familiar faces of Evgeny Kissin, Stephen Hough and Murray Perahia, and there's a welcome return to the stage from Maxim Vengerov.
Operas (in concert) include Donizetti's Belisario (conducted by Sir Mark Elder), Handel's Radamisto and rare Imeneo (with David Daniels and Lucy Crowe), The Turn of the Screw and Lully's Phaéton.
Booking opens online to Barbican Red Members 23 Jan, Orange Members 26 Jan and everyone else 30 Jan.
....sounds marvellous ...
Posted by: Alexander | 18 January 2012 at 12:32 PM
By no-means a stunning season.
...and I've just been told that Elina Garanca has just withdrawn from the upcoming Clemenza di Tito. Humpffffff. The great news is that the wonderful Alice Coote replaces her.
Posted by: Rannaldini | 18 January 2012 at 03:28 PM
*sigh* So they have a very interesting series with Szymanowski and...they pair it with Brahm's ghastly music. How about pairing the Pole with his contemporaries like early Bartok, Strauss, Debussy and so on?
Posted by: Henry Holland | 19 January 2012 at 12:35 AM
Booking for April 2013 now is ridiculous and if past performances are anything to go by you'll be lucky if half the original cast are there. And given my memory these days if I still remember to go.
Posted by: simon | 19 January 2012 at 02:04 PM
The Belisario by Donizetti will be recorded by Opera Rara. I'm happy to see that they are doing opera concerts again.
Posted by: Archaeopteryx | 20 January 2012 at 11:36 PM
anyone know why the balcony was unavaible for both nights of the Turn of the screw on the opening of the public booking. It can't be sold out already can it. And a £2 booking fee on a £10 ticket seems a bit steep.
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Intermezzo replies - along with last-minute discounts, it's another of the Barbican's ways of penalising early bookers. If they think an event might not sell out, they don't open the balcony for booking initially. Once the more expensive seats are nearly all gone, then they start selling balcony seats.
I have spent far less on Barbican tickets this time round than any other year largely because I won't be pushed into overspending like this.
Posted by: simon | 31 January 2012 at 09:52 AM
Thanks for the information IM I was disappointed that you confirmed my suspicions. What with performance overruns, no shows and now cynical ploys to restrict access to an ever dwindling supply of reasonably priced tickets, I really am beginning to give up with this venue. But there again I am the last person they are targeting. Good job they are only getting £119,126 from the Arts council this year.
Posted by: simon | 05 February 2012 at 01:05 PM