Classical music/Opera direct to home 14 - sound and vision at the highest level

CLASSICAL MUSIC/OPERA DIRECT TO HOME Berlin esoterica, two UK concerts and vivid Puccini

Esoteric Berlin delights, two fine UK concerts, vivid Puccini and classical awards for all

As more musicians emerge from lockdown to conduct, play and sing in audience-less venues - ongoing kudos to the Wigmore Hall for its weekday lunchtime concerts, a fixure for so many viewers and listeners - here are some more off-piste treasures, a past glory from the Royal Opera, a chance to vote for l

La voix humaine, Grange Park Opera online review – hanging on the telephone

★★★★ LA VOIX HUMAINE, GRANGE PARK ONLINE Hanging on the telephone

Poulenc's technological tragedy proves eerily apt for lockdown lives

Rustles of renewal are stirring in the Surrey woods where Grange Park Opera has built the splendid theatre that remains, for this summer, sadly out of bounds. Faced with the cancellation of its 2020 programme, Wasfi Kani’s company has not simply relied, like many others, on a back catalogue of archive videos to keep its audiences onside.

Classical Music/Opera direct to home 12 - partying at a distance

CLASSICAL MUSIC / OPERA DIRECT TO HOME 12 Festivals cope with live online events

Festivals cope with live online events and past fare

What would have been the festival season starts around now. Some organisations are offering mementos of past glories; others, especially in countries where the lockdown has been relaxed to a greater extent than is possible in the UK, are managing to assemble some of their artists in audience-free auditoriums, playng and singing to you online. All are under varying degrees of financial stress and many may not relaunch; help where you can with donations every now and then.



Bergen International Festival

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, Dutch National Opera, OperaVision review - fairy-tale good and evil made real

THE LEGEND OF THE INVISIBLE CITY OF KITEZH, DUTCH NATIONAL OPERA Rimsky-Korsakov's myth resonates in the highest musical and production standards

Rimsky-Korsakov's myth resonates in the highest musical and production standards

How do you render pure goodness interesting? Unorthodox director Dmitri Tcherniakov and radiant young soprano Svetlana Ignatovich make us smile and break our hearts with their take on the maiden Fevroniya: living at one with nature, seeing God in everything and destroyed by her encounter with civic life.

Avoiding meltdown from lockdown: Michael Chance on The Grange Festival's strategy for survival

FIRST PERSON: MICHAEL CHANCE on The Grange Festival's strategy for survival

The countertenor and mastermind of a major summer opera event weighs up the future

Where to start? We at The Grange Festival began in mid-March (the 15th) with a letter to our company, all those few hundred who come and work for us during the festival months and who are all, almost without exception, employed on a freelance basis, warning of a likely cancellation but urging a commitment to stage the summer festival over June and July (with preparations stating in mid-April) if at all possible.

Sadko, Bolshoi Opera online review - medieval Russia meets reality TV

★★★★ SADKO, BOLSHOI OPERA Tcherniakov reimagines Rimsky-Korsakov's fairy-tale, without losing the magic

Tcherniakov reimagines Rimsky-Korsakov's fairy-tale, without losing the magic

Russia came late to the coronavirus lockdown, and will be leaving early – this evening Vladimir Putin announced that national measures were coming to an end, though the disease still rages there.

Eugene Onegin, Komische Oper, OperaVision review - sensual and devastating

★★★★ EUGENE ONEGIN, KOMISCHE OPER, OPERAVISION Kosky serves up first love hot and sweet and heartbreaking

Kosky serves up first love hot and sweet and heartbreaking

Liberated from Pushkin’s salons, ballrooms and bedrooms, Barrie Kosky’s Eugene Onegin bursts out into nature. Tatyana and Olga lounge in the long grass stealing heavy fingerfuls of jam straight from the jar; party-guests run through the trees with flaming torches, dancing wildly, barefoot; after the harvest groups gather on the lawn with picnics and games. This is a world apart, the hot, hazy, endless summer of first love – an intense, but unreliable memory.

Metropolitan Opera At-Home Gala livestream review - classy joy and sorrow in domestic settings

METROPOLITAN OPERA AT HOME GALA Classy joy & sorrow in domestic settings

Top voices giving generously to raise funds in often dodgy Skyped sound

So many of the world's great opera singers inviting us to look through the keyhole at a carefully presented version of their lockdown lives over four very variable hours, such bad sound for the most part (Skype, like Zoom, catches the voice but loses the accompaniment).

Elektra/Der Rosenkavalier, Nightly Met Opera Streams review - searing hits and indulgent misses

ELEKTRA / DER ROSENKAVALIER, MET OPERA ONLINE Searing hits and indulgent misses

Challenging direction, great conducting and luxury casting in New York Strauss

A brutal Greek tragedy and a rococo Viennese comedy, both filtered through the eyes and ears of 20th century genius: what a feast on consecutive nights from the Metropolitan Opera's recent archive. There's been real thought behind the wealth of programming in the company's attempts to keep the world happy for free during lockdown, including a whole Wagner week.