Tchaikovsky
The genius of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker score
The enduring appeal of The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score is nothing less than the sound of Christmas
Needed a shot of Stolichnaya: The Tchaikovsky Project reviewed
Grade: B+ I’m not sure about ‘Projects’. Aren’t those what ageing rockers produce, in a haze of sedatives, when their…
It’s not fair – I liked Il segreto di Susanna before it was cool: OHP’s double bill reviewed
Should a secret pleasure ever be shared? Spoiler alert: Susanna’s secret, unknown to her husband Gil, is that she smokes.…
Never quite pivots from thesis to drama: Royal Opera’s Queen of Spades reviewed
We increasingly accept the collision between life and art. Whether we’re puzzling over the real identity of Elena Ferrante, choosing…
Mistaken identity
This year’s Lucerne Festival is given its identity by having as its theme ‘Identity’. Since the word doesn’t mean anything,…
Predictably meh: Scottish Ballet’s new Swan Lake reviewed
Every ballet company wants a box-office earner. But why Scottish Ballet’s leader Christopher Hampson kept on at David Dawson until…
Ancient Egypt’s obsession with death was in fact a preoccupation with life
The Fitzwilliam Museum is marking its bicentenary with an exhibition that takes its title from Agatha Christie: Death on the…
Conductor and orchestra played as if in love: Royal Opera’s Eugene Onegin reviewed
It’s scene five of Kasper Holten’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Michael Fabiano’s Lensky is alone with a snow-covered…
Giselle has floored many a ballerina — it did so again last week
English has all sorts of emotive metaphors for how we feel about the ground. We’re floored. Or well grounded. Or…
ENO’s Queen of Spades: I wanted to grab David Alden’s production by the neck and shake out its silly clutter
The opera director David Alden has never been one to tread the straight and narrow. Something kinky would emerge, I’m…
Will the real Swan Lake please stand up
Ismene Brown unpicks the great enigma of ballet theatre
London International Mime Festival review: on juggling, dance and Wayne Rooney's hair transplant
January is something of a palate-cleanser for the year, as the London International Mime Festival flies in plane-loads of companies…
Does a tart like Manon have a place in the Royal Ballet repertoire?
What can the Royal Opera House be insinuating about its target audience? No sooner had Anna Nicole closed than Manon…
Sochi Olympics: Why picking on gays has backfired so horribly for Vladimir Putin
Russia’s thuggish President has picked on the wrong minority
Why do we pounce on Wagner's anti-Semitism, and ignore that of the Russian composers?
Philip Hensher on how an impassioned, chaotic group of amateur 19th-century composers created the first distinctively Russian music
