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Richard Bratby

Richard Bratby

The Spectator

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The artistic collapse of Welsh National Opera

On the first night of Welsh National Opera’s new Flying Dutchman, the company’s co-directors walked on stage to salute their departing music...

23.04.2026 9

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Heart-melting loveliness from John Rutter

Anyone for a spot of acoustic science? Apparently the distinctive colour of a musical note is concentrated almost wholly in the attack: the first...

16.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

An outstanding Turn of the Screw

Never let it be said that The Spectator fails to follow up an arts story. Long-term readers will recall that in the edition of 6 March 1711 Joseph...

09.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Royal Opera’s Siegfried is magnificent

Covent Garden’s new Ring cycle has reached Siegfried, and once again, you can only marvel at Wagner’s Shakespeare-like ability to anticipate...

03.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The joy of American romanticism

For some record collectors, the fun lies in comparing recordings of standard repertoire. For others, it’s more about exploring – discovering works...

02.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Royal Opera’s Siegfried is magnificent

Covent Garden’s new Ring cycle has reached Siegfried, and once again, you can only marvel at Wagner’s Shakespeare-like ability to anticipate...

26.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Why the Goldberg Variations fill me with dread

Is Sir Andras Schiff becoming the Ken Dodd of the piano? In his later years, you’ll recall, the Yorick of Knotty Ash took to delivering marathon...

19.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / ‘I didn’t expect to love Wagner’

By the end of Siegfried, the third opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the king of the gods is in freefall. In the first opera, Das...

17.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

‘I didn’t expect to love Wagner’

By the end of Siegfried, the third opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the king of the gods is in freefall. In the first opera, Das...

11.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Bracingly inventive: Phantasy by the Piatti Quartet reviewed

You think you know a musical genre; then a new recording comes along and pulls something unexpected out of the bag. Walter Willson Cobbett (1847-1937)...

05.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A playful, big-hearted, intelligent new opera

Some people like art to have a message. So here’s one, delivered by Katsushika Hokusai near the end of Dai Fujikura and Harry Ross’s new opera The...

26.02.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The early-music movement is ageing well

12.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Richard Jones’s Boris Godunov feels like a parody

05.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Rattle's glorious Janacek

22.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

This Royal Opera Traviata is no ordinary revival

15.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The magnificence of Beare’s Chamber Music Festival

08.01.2026 30

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / An opera that will actually make you laugh

06.01.2026 30

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / An opera that will actually make you laugh

06.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Evgeny Kissin’s stand-in brings the house down

27.11.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The orchestra that makes pros go weak at the knees

20.11.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Was Elgar really a snob?

13.11.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

In defence of Katie Mitchell

13.11.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The Listener / Violin concertos from two Broadway legends

12.11.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Violin concertos from two Broadway legends

06.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / A cracking little 1967 opera that we ought to see more often

04.11.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A cracking little 1967 opera that we ought to see more often

30.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A Magic Flute that will make you weep

23.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

This museum is a lesson for all curators

09.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Pure feelgood: ENO’s Cinderella reviewed

02.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Northern Ireland Opera have a hit: Follies reviewed

25.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Anna Netrebko’s still got it

18.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The listener / Why are there so few decent French symphonies?

17.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The listener / Why are there so few decent French symphonies?

15.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The listener / Why are there so few decent French symphonies?

15.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Arts / The man who can save classical music

04.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Huge Fun: Le Carnaval de Venise reviewed

04.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The man who can save classical music

04.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A revelation: Delius’s Mass of Life at the Proms reviewed

28.08.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A Brigadoon better than most of us ever hoped to see

21.08.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Arts feature / How the railways shaped modern culture

18.08.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

How the railways shaped modern culture

14.08.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Disconcerting but often delightful new Bach transcriptions

14.08.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The excruciating tedium of John Tavener

07.08.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Three cheers for the Three Choirs Festival

31.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Classical music / Why has the world turned on the Waltz King?

29.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Brilliant rewrite of Shakey: Hamlet, at Buxton Opera House, reviewed

24.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Why has the world turned on the Waltz King?

24.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A cross between Peter Rabbit and Queen Victoria: Bliss: The Composer Conducts reviewed

17.07.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / A contradictory staging, but the music floods the ear with splendour: Semele at the Royal opera reviewed

14.07.2025 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A contradictory staging, but the music floods the ear with splendour: Semele at the Royal opera reviewed

10.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby