Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 12/05/2026Brett Dean's new opera Of One Blood premiered at Bavarian State Opera on Sunday. It is available to listen on demand on BR Klassik: www.br-klassik.de/programm/rad...br-klassik.deLive aus dem Münchner Nationaltheater: Brett Dean: 041
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 24/04/2026Konzept for Meistersinger. It's the 1980 Chopin Competition. Walther is Ivo Pogorelić. Sachs is Martha Argerich. Haven't worked out the details yet but I'm sure Stefan Herheim could make a go of it. 130
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 05/04/2026Have just spotted that Karajan's Dresden Meistersinger is now on streaming services. If you don't know it, check it out. You're in for a treat. 030
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 17/03/2026My review of Die Meistersinger in Stuttgart: www.opera-now.com/content/revi...opera-now.comWagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Stuttgart State Opera | Live Review - Opera NowMeister is a dynamic Wagnerian, propelling the drama, but also has an ideal sense of poise 042
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 19/12/2025My debut on the Gramophone podcast www.gramophone.co.uk/podcasts/art... 041
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 05/12/2025Just had a bash through these two chaconnes on the piano. Don't sound much like Bach to me. 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 25/11/2025My review of Dorian Gray, by Elżbieta Sikora and David Pountney, at Teatr Wielki, Poznań ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...gramophone.co.ukSikora: Dorian Gray at Teatr Wielki | Live ReviewA major success for all involved, and a clear demonstration of how modern opera can speak to our times 021
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 24/11/2025With David Pountney and Aleksander Laskowski in Poznań for the premiere of Elżbieta Sikora's opera Dorian Gray, for which Pountney is librettist and director. A powerful evening of opera and lots to write about. So review to follow. 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 08/11/2025The November issue of Gramophone, in which I try to convince Hugo Shirley that Bernstein's recording of Der Rosenkavalier is a classic (spoiler: I fail). 4202
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 05/11/2025My review of The Makropulos Case at the Royal Opera House: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...gramophone.co.ukJanáček: The Makropulos Case at the Royal Opera | Live ReviewMitchell’s production raises the dramatic intensity, and the narrative complexity, the results continuously provocative and confrontational 091
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 23/09/2025The striking new Rosenkavalier production that opened the Zurich Opera season is available on Arte w/o VPN. www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...arte.tvRichard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier - Opernhaus Zürich - Programm in voller Länge | ARTE ConcertMit dem "Rosenkavalier", angesiedelt in einem imaginierten Wien des Rokoko, schufen Strauss und Hofmannsthal eine tiefsinnige Gesellschaftskomödie. Nicht ohne Wehmut lässt die Marschallin ihren jungen... 040
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 13/09/2025My profile of composer Elena Firsova in the October issue of Gramophone: www.gramophone.co.uk/features/art...gramophone.co.ukContemporary composer: Elena FirsovaGavin Dixon explores the powerful music of this poetic modernist 082
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 31/08/2025Richard Tice says Archbishop Stephen Cottrell should stick to presenting Match of the Day www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comRichard Tice hits back at C of E criticism of Reform immigration policyDeputy leader says archbishop should stay out of matter after Stephen Cottrell calls policy isolationist and kneejerk 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 29/08/2025My obituary of Rodion Shchedrin, who died today: www.gramophone.co.uk/classical%20...gramophone.co.ukRodion Shchedrin, Russian composer of 'Carmen Suite' and leading voice of the late Soviet era, dies at 92Shchedrin was one of the most high-profile Russian composers of the late Soviet era and continued to lead the Russian new music scene in the following decades 090
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 22/07/2025The Bayreuth Festival opens on Friday with a new production of Die Meistersinger. All of the first week performances will be broadcast on Bavarian radio, and there is also a video livestream of the Meistersinger (VPN possibly required). www.br-klassik.de/themen/bayre...br-klassik.deBayreuther Festspiele: Die Spiele auf dem Grünen Hügel | BR-KlassikMit der Neuproduktion 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 11/07/2025Great to meet up with Elena Firsova today - preparing a composer profile for Gramophone in the Autumn. 040
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 01/07/2025My review of Philippe Manoury's Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit at Cologne Opera www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...gramophone.co.ukManoury: Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit at Cologne Opera | Live ReviewThe music fully justifies the scale of these resources: modern, emotive and immersive 000
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 27/06/2025At Oper Köln for the premiere of Philippe Manoury's Die letzten Tage der Menschheit. 050
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 14/06/2025In Dresden for Kent Nagano's period-instrument Siegfried. 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 20/05/2025My review of Parsifal at Glyndebourne www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...gramophone.co.ukWagner: Parsifal at Glyndebourne | Live ReviewEverything about this production is clearly inspired by the venue, its traditions and especially its size 051
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 16/05/2025A new opera by Unsuk Chin, 'Die dunkle Seite des Mondes', premieres in Hamburg on Sunday. A recording of the premiere will be broadcast on NDR Kultur on Saturday 24 May: www.ndr.de/kultur/sendu...ndr.deUnsuk Chin - "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes"Unsuk Chin bringt ihre zweite Oper "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes" auf die Bühne, ein Kompositionsauftrag der Hamburgischen Staatsoper. 160
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 12/05/2025RIP Valentina Kholopova, Professor at the Moscow Conservatory and leading authority on Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Shchedrin, and much other recent Russian music. She died today aged 90. muzobozrenie.ru/pamjati-vale...muzobozrenie.ruПамяти Валентины Холоповой - Музыкальное обозрение12 мая 2025 на 90-м году жизни скончалась Валентина Николаевна Холопова —ученый-музыковед, доктор искусствоведения, профессор 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 24/04/2025Proms listings from @bachtrack.com, the most easily browsable, as ever. 072
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 17/04/2025Some Bruckner landmarks in Linz. The first plaque and the organ, which was built to Bruckner's specification, are at the old cathedral. The E-Minor Mass plaque and the window are at the new cathedral. 170
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 14/04/2025The music section of a tourist guide to Vienna. An embarrassment of riches. 110
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 12/04/2025Theater 82er Haus, an active theatre in rural Austria (with a gorgous art deco exterior), operating in a 'town', Gablitz, so small it doesn't even have a shop. www.theater82erhaus.at 050
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 30/03/2025An interesting beer to go with today's BBQ, a lambic trippel from Bruges. Tart and fruity 030
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 22/03/2025Huge article today in the SZ on Donald Trump by Jürgen Habermas. He’s not a fan. www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/art...sueddeutsche.dePhilosoph Jürgen Habermas exklusiv: Ein Appell für EuropaZu Donald Trump, dem geopolitischen Umbruch und der Übertölpelung unseres Kontinents. Zugleich eine Warnung vor der Rhetorik der Verfeindung und ein Plädoyer für die Freundschaft mit unseren Nachbarn. 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 19/03/2025Putin is consolidating Russia's cultural dominance of Crimea in traditional soft-power fashion, with a world-class opera and ballet theatre at Sevastopol. Due to open next year. smotrim.ru/article/4410...smotrim.ruВ Севастополе завершен монтаж металлоконструкций театра оперы и балетаЗдание будто парит над землей. 000
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Of One Blood, a new opera by Brett Dean, premieres at Bavarian State Opera next May: www.staatsoper.de/en/productio...staatsoper.deOf One Blood 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 13/03/2025RIP Sofia Gubaidulina www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS0D...youtube.comJurowski & Repin plays Gubaidulina, Offertorium, concerto for violin and orchestraYouTube video by Иван Шариков 0449
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 18/02/2025A good week for modern British opera in London. This time I'm at ENO for Thea Musgrave's Mary Queen of Scots. 050
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 18/02/2025Markus Poschner named as the new Chief Conductor of the ORF Symphony Orchestra, from the start of the 26/27 season ... on the condition that long-term funding for the orchestra has been secured by then: ooe.orf.at/stories/3293...ooe.orf.atPoschner soll RSO-Chefdirigent werdenMarkus Poschner, der Chefdirigent des Linzer Bruckner Orchesters, soll mit Beginn der Spielzeit 2026/27 das ORF Radio-Symphonieorchesters Wien (RSO) leiten. Voraussetzung ist allerdings, dass dass bis... 020
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 17/02/2025Review of the new Meistersinger production at Melbourne Opera. Good to see Anthony Negus getting the work in. www.australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/...australianbookreview.com.au'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Melbourne Opera’s magnificent production of Wagner’s comedy' by Michael ShmithThere is something inherently self-defeating in the famous quote about Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg being ‘the longest single smile in the German language’. Certainly, in some produ... 000
Reposted by Gavin DixonHugh Morris @hwfmorris.bsky.social · 13/02/2025A report on an orchestra that vanished for @londonermag.bsky.social www.the-londoner.co.uk/london-chamb...the-londoner.co.ukA London orchestra played music for 100 years. Then it vanishedA tale of angry musicians, unpaid bills and a mystery about what really went wrong 54223
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 13/02/2025RIP Denis Wick www.deniswick.comdeniswick.com“My interest and continued thrill was playing the wonderful music that seemed to be coming in an endless stream. This was truly heaven on earth. I recall seeing the latest film at the local cinema and thinking my life was much more interesting than this fiction.” – Denis Wick 000
Reposted by Gavin DixonBen Folds @actualbenfolds.bsky.social · 12/02/2025Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO. Not for me. It’s been a wonderful 8 years working with Kennedy Center President Deb Rutter, fellow artistic advisor Renee Fleming, NSO artistic administrator Justin Ellis, and the entire NSO 493137581747
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 12/02/2025New opera house planned for Hamburg, mostly financed by billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne (including any overspend!). Still a few headaches though: suspicion of Nazi links to Kühne family fortune, plus planned site has links with Herero and Nama genocide. www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/klau...sueddeutsche.deKlaus-Michael Kühne: Das ist der Milliardär, der Hamburg eine Oper schenktEr ist der reichste Deutsche und schenkt Hamburg eine neue Oper mit "Strahlkraft": Das ist Klaus-Michael Kühne. 075
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Kudos to all involved in #Festen, especially #ROH for committing what must have been significant resources to assemble ideal cast and creatives for the project. 0120
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 11/02/2025#Festen at #ROH worked for me. Turnage's music is often crassly cartoonish - more Anna Nicole than Silver Tassie - but its lurid effect is gradually intensified as the horrors unfold. 040
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 07/02/2025The opening night of Die Liebe der Danae from Bavarian State Opera is on BR Klassik this evening, 7pm local time. www.br-klassik.de/programm/rad...br-klassik.deLive aus dem Münchner Nationaltheater: Richard Strauss: 110
Gavin Dixon @saquabote.bsky.social · 06/02/2025This looks like fun, a detective story set around the Vienna New Year concerts. The victim is a musicologist, whose body is discovered at the Musikverein. And the conspiracy goes all the way back to Strauss's day. www.edition-a.at/buecher/krim...edition-a.atAus für StraussDas neue Jahr wird in Österreich traditionell mit seinem Donauwalzer begrüßt: Johann Strauss steht auf dem Olymp der klassischen Musiker neben… 140
