Michel Thomas

Thomas's Le songe d'une nuit d'ete is not, as one might expect, a setting of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. What it is, however, is a fantasie lyrique in which the characters of Shakespeare, Elizabeth I and Sir John Falstaff all play a part. Apart from the delightful overture and the exquisite tenor aria, "Ou suis-je," the music is perhaps not as memorable as that found in Thomas's other operas such as Hamlet or Mignon, but it is not without its gossamer charm. The production (taped on May 7, 1994) was mounted to celebrate the opening of Le tunnel sous la Manche (the Channel tunnel that now links England and France). In fact, the opera ends with Shakespeare and Elizabeth I walking slowly towards the entrance of the Chunnel–presumably on their way to France. Next to the modest set designs, the costumes (provided by the Royal Shakespeare Company) look more than opulent…

Classical music and jazz have reached their highest peaks through a perfect formation: the quartet. String quartet for one, quartet with trumpet (or saxophone), piano, double bass and drums for the other. Daring to bring these two poles together is David Enhco's bet with his new creation Family Tree.

After three decades of Carmen in opéra comique-style, each one offering its own brand of authenticity, here we are back in the 19th century with the old grand opera version, with the Guiraud recitatives, tacked on after Bizet’s death. This was the way Carmen was usually performed until the 1950s, when producers and scholars started to reconsider the original.