Tag Archives: Verdi

Verdi or Dixit?

Posted on March 31, 2025 by vhk10

I had a choice between two concerts on the same night: either singing Handel’s and Scarlatti’s settings of Dixit Dominus with a larger choir than they were written for in Bristol, or singing Verdi’s Requiem with a smaller orchestra than … Continue reading →

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round-up of 2024

Posted on January 7, 2025 by vhk10

2024 will not rank as a particularly vintage year for me I think – I didn’t go to any operas and there were no major works I sang for the first time (maybe this is because the ones that I … Continue reading →

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Verdi at the Beacon

Posted on March 25, 2024 by vhk10

Now that the Bristol Beacon is available to us, Bristol Choral Society can put on the bigger works that have been off the menu since 2018. First up was Verdi’s Requiem – a work that is thoroughly ingrained in me … Continue reading →

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my top 10 big choral works

Posted on January 14, 2019 by vhk10

January is always a quiet month for performance (although I have one new venture I’ll write about fairly soon) so time to write some more general posts I’ve been saving up for a while. Singing Mahler 2 near the end … Continue reading →

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Opera at the V & A

Posted on March 1, 2018 by vhk10

I caught the V & A’s exhibition Opera: Power, Passion and Politics 10 days or so before it closed (which it has done now – sorry), and found it thought-provoking though not in the ‘unmissable’ category. The exhibitions centres on … Continue reading →

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buying CDs at the farmers’ market

Posted on February 1, 2018 by vhk10

Bath Farmers’ Market takes place on Saturday mornings. The market stalls stand next to other stalls which are there all week, including one that sells second-hand DVDs and CDs. Among the latter there is a small selection of classical ones, … Continue reading →

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the Scottish opera

Posted on March 7, 2016 by vhk10

I went to Bath Opera again to see Macbeth, encouraged by a friend in the chorus. As last year, I left it to the last minute but they hadn’t sold out, so I was sold a seat in a block … Continue reading →

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a memorial concert

Posted on November 2, 2015 by vhk10

We had a particular involvement in Bristol Choral Society’s Verdi Requiem in Colston Hall with the British Sinfonietta, as we contributed to the cost in memory of my late father-in-law. I was singing, and in fact this was the first … Continue reading →

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Violetta’s back-story

Posted on May 19, 2014 by vhk10

One of the most poignant moments in the current (actually 20-year-old) Royal Opera House production of La Traviata comes even before the curtain rises; during the overture, images of 19th-century poverty-stricken girls are projected on it, to suggest Violetta’s origins … Continue reading →

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The Great Chorus

Posted on March 5, 2014 by vhk10

The children’s school is putting on one of its occasional concerts in which they invite parents and others associated with the school to boost the school choirs in a concert. I sang in the last of these; unfortunately I will … Continue reading →

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Why I’m like Lohengrin

Posted on February 19, 2014 by vhk10

There was a mildly embarrassing moment at the beginning of our opera gala concert last weekend: as usual, we were all lined up in rows to process on and the names of those on the end of each row (including … Continue reading →

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My 13

Posted on February 18, 2014 by vhk10

The new Op13 music shop in Bristol has some posters inside, each showing 13 composers chosen by local musicians, some known personally to me. I couldn’t see them without thinking of what my own list would be and have used … Continue reading →

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