Nico Muhly's keenly anticipated Two Boys opens at English National Opera on June 24. The composer is blogging about the experience. ENO has issued an amusing promotional video, which has garnered more than 600,000 views at this writing; to be honest, it's not as sharp as a 2008 BBC sketch on the same theme, and, as Tom Service points out, it won't prepare audiences for the darkness of Muhly's tale. I first wrote about the composer in 2004.... Were I a Londoner this summer, I'd want to check out, among other things, the Muhly, the Midsummer Night's Dream at ENO, Gerald Finley in Meistersinger down at Glyndebourne, Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony at the Proms, the Thomas Larcher premiere at same, Vivaldi at Garsington Opera's new home, and Sound and Music's Eliane Radigue series at Spitalfields (more at The Rambler).... Last year I served as a judge for the New Statesman's Young Music Critic competition. Alexandra Coghlan was the winner, and she's been penning fresh, incisive reviews.... Susan Tomes finds it odd that the Guardian's "History of Modern Music" does not include classical music.... It's great to see Bob Shingleton back on the Overgrown Path after a recent health crisis. Best wishes for a quick recovery!
