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Richard Bratby

Richard Bratby

The Spectator

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

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...

latest 8

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

‘I didn’t expect to love Wagner’

‘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 10

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 7

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 9

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The early-music movement is ageing well

12.02.2026 6

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Richard Jones’s Boris Godunov feels like a parody

05.02.2026 6

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Rattle's glorious Janacek

22.01.2026 9

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

This Royal Opera Traviata is no ordinary revival

15.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The magnificence of Beare’s Chamber Music Festival

08.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / An opera that will actually make you laugh

06.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Opera / An opera that will actually make you laugh

06.01.2026 5

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Evgeny Kissin’s stand-in brings the house down

27.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The orchestra that makes pros go weak at the knees

20.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Was Elgar really a snob?

13.11.2025 8

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

In defence of Katie Mitchell

13.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The Listener / Violin concertos from two Broadway legends

12.11.2025 9

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Violin concertos from two Broadway legends

06.11.2025 8

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

04.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

30.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A Magic Flute that will make you weep

23.10.2025 7

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

This museum is a lesson for all curators

09.10.2025 4

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Pure feelgood: ENO’s Cinderella reviewed

02.10.2025 4

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Northern Ireland Opera have a hit: Follies reviewed

25.09.2025 4

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Anna Netrebko’s still got it

18.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

17.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

15.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

15.09.2025 3

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Arts / The man who can save classical music

04.09.2025 5

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Huge Fun: Le Carnaval de Venise reviewed

04.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The man who can save classical music

04.09.2025 9

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

28.08.2025 9

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

A Brigadoon better than most of us ever hoped to see

21.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Arts feature / How the railways shaped modern culture

18.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

How the railways shaped modern culture

14.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Disconcerting but often delightful new Bach transcriptions

14.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The excruciating tedium of John Tavener

07.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Three cheers for the Three Choirs Festival

31.07.2025 5

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

29.07.2025 3

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

24.07.2025 5

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Why has the world turned on the Waltz King?

24.07.2025 5

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

17.07.2025 6

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 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

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

10.07.2025 4

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

I’ve rarely seen a happier audience: Grange Festival’s Die Fledermaus reviewed

26.06.2025 8

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The Listener / If you think all orchestras sound alike, listen to this recording

23.06.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

If you think all orchestras sound alike, listen to this recording

19.06.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Summer opera festivals have gone Wagner mad

12.06.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Thrilling: Garsington’s Queen of Spades reviewed

05.06.2025 7

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

Sincere, serious and beautiful: Glyndebourne’s Parsifal reviewed

29.05.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby

The forgotten story of British opera

22.05.2025 10

The Spectator

Richard Bratby