Bravo!

Congratulations to Dame Felicity Lott who has just returned from her successful recital tour of the US with Graham Johnson. Performing at the Herbst Theater, San Francisco, the Embassy of Austria, Washington DC and Zankel Hall, New York, Dame Felicity received wonderful reviews praising her "limpid, melting high notes and evocative phrasing" (Thomas Aujero Small, ConcertoNet.com). Felicity will be appearing again in recital at the Chatelet Theatre, Paris next week and London will hear her in two big concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink at the Barbican Centre next month. For further reviews of the recital tour please click here.

Bravo to Ekaterina Siurina who made a triumphant company and role debut at the San Diego Opera, singing Leila in Bizet’s ‘The Pearl Fishers’. The performance was widely applauded for Ekaterina’s exquisite technical ability and beautiful tone clarity, not to mention the onstage chemistry between her and real-life husband Charles Castronovo in their portrayal of Leila and Nadir. One critic wrote "few light lyric sopranos are blessed with Ekaterina Siurina’s gorgeous timbre and sense of pitch", with another hailing her as "a soprano to keep an eye on!" Ekaterina will also be appearing at the Salzburg Festival in the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ this summer.

Bravo to Patrizia Ciofi who triumphed in the title role of 'Maria Stuarda' at the Opera Royal de Wallonie in Liege. One critic writes"Patrizia Ciofi déclencha un triomphe" in a production which served as the Italian soprano's debut in the role.

Congratulations to Ian Bostridge, Kate Royal, Jurgita Adamonyte and Benjamin Hulett on the start of a major Idomeneo concert tour with Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante. The artists gave an amazing first concert to standing ovations at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. They will also perform this work at the Gulbenkian in Lisbon and at the Barbican in London. The latter will form the latest stage of Ian Bostridge's Barbican residence "Homeward Bound".

Well done to Lars Vogt who is enjoying great critical acclaim after concerts with Minnesota Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony. Fred Kirshnit of the New York Sun wrote of the Schumann Piano Concerto that "Mr. Vogt was letter-perfect" whilst Janelle Gelfland of the Cincinnati Enquirer praised his "immense ability and individuality" in Mozart Piano Concerto K466.

After a hugely successful tour of Australia and New Zealand, where she gave performances of the Elgar Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky Rococco Variations, with the West Australia Symphony, New Zealand Symphony and Adelaide Unley Orchestras, as well as giving recitals in Sydney and Adelaide, Natalie Clein returned to the UK last week for a flying visit to give a recital at London's Cadogan Hall with Kathy Stott. They played a programme together entitled 'Friends and Inspiration' which included pieces by Shostakovich, Britten, Bridge, Piazzolla and Elgar. Natalie is now in New York rehearsing for a concert in Carnegie Hall in aid of Trudie Styler and Sting's Rainforest Foundation Fund. The concert will include performances from Billy Joel, James Taylor, Sting, Brian Wilson, Chris Botti, Feist, Roberto Alagna and Natalie. This year marks the 20th year since Trudie Styler and her husband Sting took their first trip to the Brazilian Rainforest and their commitment began. What subsequently followed was the founding of the Rainforest Foundation Fund. Natalie believes passionately in this cause and is very much looking forward to her performance at New York's Carnegie Hall later this week.

Julian Rachlin gave a sublime recital at the Wigmore Hall this weekend. Playing on both the viola and violin he silenced the audience so you could hear a pin-drop, with his tortuous programme which Geoffrey Norris reviews in the Telegraph: "Both parts of Julian Rachlin's recital ended in C major, but the route towards it was anything but simple. This was a programme in which introspection yielded to consolation through a lot of tortuous soul-searching, with the stage lighting appropriately subdued and shadowy for the first half but bathed in a glow after the interval. Rachlin began, on the viola, with Britten's Lachrymae and Shostakovich's Viola Sonata; then, switching to the violin, he played Dvorák's Four Romantic Pieces Op 75 and Grieg's Third Sonata in C minor Op 45. Shostakovich's claim that his Viola Sonata was "bright and clear" is not perhaps an assessment that everyone would share. The fact that this was the last piece he wrote before his death in 1975 is manifest in the atmosphere of the slow, brooding outer movements framing a scherzo of caustic asperity. Indeed, Rachlin and his pianist Itamar Golan underlined the music's emotional force with an interpretation of dark intensity, the final threnody - with its oblique references to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata - sounding all the more bleak through Rachlin's imaginative use of timbre, from the full and resonant to a sort of bleached resignation or a halo of harmonics. The clouds lifted with Dvorák's innocent and enchanting violin pieces, and, for all the urgency and passion that Grieg unleashes in his C minor Sonata, with that as well. All these performances revealed a live and unanimous partnership between Rachlin and Golan, one that responded keenly to the contrasting moods and explored the music's expressive implications deeply."

Bravo to Sarah Connolly and Sophie Bevan who were presented with awards by Prince Charles at the Royal College of Music. Soprano Sophie Bevan was given the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Rosebowl, awarded to a student who has brought great credit to the college. The Prince also gave fellowships of the Royal College to a number of important musicians, including the mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly.

Congratulations to Ailyn Perez, Jurgita Adamonyte and Brindley Sherratt who have just completed successful performances of 'Le Nozze di Figaro' with the Salzburg Festival on tour to Japan. The performances were conducted by Askonas Holt artist Robin Ticciati. Ailyn will return to Salzburg this summer for Juliette in Gounod's 'Romeo et Juliette' and Jurgita Adamonyte is about to sing her first Idamante in 'Idomeneo' on a major European tour with Europa Galante.