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I got back on Sunday evening from four beautiful days in Provence - with the Ristretto Summer Academy, as a spectator only I should add! And here they all are above, after the Saturday night concert, the result of seven... Continue reading

Posted Aug 13, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Provence

I am sitting in the shade where the temperature is 34 - in the delightful Hotel Notre-Dame de Lumières. I am here for just four days to join Errol and Susie Girdlestone at the Ristretto Summer Academy. This place is... Continue reading

Posted Aug 9, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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A typical London summer week

Paco Peña and company at Cubitt Sesions, Kings Cross Saturday July 27 2019 The last eight days have been mainly social catching up with friends after such busy weeks all over the place! But it was a huge pleasure to... Continue reading

Posted Aug 4, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Out of Africa

Nelson Mandela and the Union Buildings, Pretoria July 19 2019 My trip to Cape Town was a huge success with no less than 4 singers being selected for the final rounds in Germany in October. We were already short of... Continue reading

Posted Jul 26, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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South Africa

The Table Mountain 6:15 pm Tuesday July 16 from downtown Cape Town I am now in South Africa for what I fully expect to be a fruitful series of auditions. In recent years we have found some outstanding talent here,... Continue reading

Posted Jul 18, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Double Bill!

A week of Fantasio - two performances, two casts. And what a pleasure it was to be at Garsington twice this week. I had been at a piano run of Fantasio last month, then the first stage and orchestra rehearsal.... Continue reading

Posted Jul 11, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Quick week!

Garsington Understudy Showcase line up! I had slightly shortened week as a result of a stupid minor accident that landed me in hospital for two nights! I am just fine now so do not worry. But it ,meant that I... Continue reading

Posted Jul 7, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Two wonderful evenings

© Clive Barda Bryn Terfel (Boris) and Matthew Rose (Pimen) at Covent Garden After a really enjoyable week at the Aldeburgh Festival I returned to London for more epic treats! I do not think that you can do much better... Continue reading

Posted Jun 28, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Orford, Snape and Aldeburgh

Orford Castle Five days in East Anglia with the Aldeburgh Festival and so many other delights is an annual pleasure these days. I had always struggled to get here during my years in Canada and the US but now there... Continue reading

Posted Jun 22, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Munich

It was a particular treat to have our auditions in Munich last week in the Prinzregentheater. This was the home of the Bavarian State Opera after the war until the Nationaltheater reopened in 1963. And it was where I saw... Continue reading

Posted Jun 16, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Returning home.........

The last week has been one of some considerable nostalgia - first on Sunday a wonderful evening at Glyndebourne where I spent the first twenty seven years of my working life, and then three nostalgic days in Dublin where I... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Garsington's Don

© Johan Persson Jonathon McGovern a charismatic Don Giovanni at Garsington I hugely enjoyed Don Giovanni at Garsington last night. Jonathan McGovern in the title role and David Ireland as his long suffering Leporello were a perfect match, Michael Boyd's... Continue reading

Posted May 31, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Yet another week of Neue Stimmen gone!

The days go zooming by and it is 5 days since I left Madrid after an afternoon of auditions which yielded one exciting qualifier for the finals plus some strong candidates for the wait list which we will be reviewing... Continue reading

Posted May 30, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Hectic week

Since I arrived in Amsterdam last Friday I feel as though I have been sprinting non stop and by the time I got home briefly on Tuesday just before midnight I was thinking "there has to be a better way"!... Continue reading

Posted May 24, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Onward to Amsterdam.......

The two days in Berlin yielded some finalists, as expected. Nevertheless it was a little disappointing. But this year we are in Frankfurt for the first time - on Monday and Tuesday coming up and a good many of the... Continue reading

Posted May 18, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Berlin

Off I am now on a quick tour over the next ten days - starting in Berlin yesterday and today with auditions at the Staatsoper. We have two heavy days from 10 am to 8 pm with eight singers an... Continue reading

Posted May 14, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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National Opera Studio's "Devotion and Desire"

NOS Young Artists, pianists and director Emma Jenkins at Regent Hall Wednesday May 8 2019 The National Opera Studio presented a most enjoyable evening at the Regent Hall in Oxford Street yesterday evening. It was an opportunity to showcase the... Continue reading

Posted May 9, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Another week gone!

Oh how time flies! It is a week since I got back from my lovely trip to Chicago and I am now going to be off again on Monday for ten days of Neue Stimmen auditions in four cities, starting... Continue reading

Posted May 8, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Home to Chicago!!

© Michael Brosilow First thing first - Chicago Opera Theater has turned a corner with a transforming change of leadership. And the evidence was there for all to see yesterday afternoon on the stage of the Harris Theater - a... Continue reading

Posted Apr 30, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Beautiful Izmir!

It is so perfect to start my Neue Stimmen year in Izmir, a jewel of a place populated by a wonderful team of warm hearted enthusiastic music and opera lovers, who work tirelessly to support and promote the gifted young... Continue reading

Posted Apr 25, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Suffolk and other things.......

Suffolk, the birthplace and long time home of Benjamin Britten, has a magic that I find irresistible so I try to get there as often as I can. I was there again last week for a couple of days (only)... Continue reading

Posted Apr 17, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Two evenings at ENO

© Alastair Muir The Women of Whitechapel: Janis Kelly, Marie McLaughlin, Natalya Romaniw, Susan Bullock and Lesley Garrett Last Saturday I was at the first performance of a new opera by Iain Bell - Jack the Ripper: The Women of... Continue reading

Posted Apr 3, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Big back log!!

I am really sorry to have seemed to have deserted you. I'm still here but have been distracted by the psychodrama of Brexit on the one hand, and by the installation in my right leg of a new knee -... Continue reading

Posted Mar 30, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Glorious Janáček

© ROH/Clive Barda Amanda Majeski as Kát'a Kabanová at the Royal Opera House February 2019 Janáček's Kát'a Kabanová has been a very special piece for me over the years, with productions in Wexford in 1972, in Glyndebourne in 1988, and... Continue reading

Posted Feb 23, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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Back to life!

After my trip to Turkey I have been suffering from some virus which has plagued so many people over the last month - cough, cold, sinus, ear ache, exhaustion.....everything but fever! So I have been lying low, although I made... Continue reading

Posted Feb 19, 2019 at Brian Dickie

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