Mark Valencia

It hasn’t ‘dropped off the BBC News website’. Like most such webpages, once published it stays published. Here’s the link, with screenshots showing that I’ve searched for it and found it in the past few minutes. bbc.com/news/articles/…

I notice that the death of the incomparable Cleo Laine has already dropped off the @BBCNews website. Am I surprised? No. Am I angry? Bloody right - I don’t register the name of a young actor who might be a rapist, I don’t really care about South Park, but Dame Cleo? Do better BBC

My Prom review of Shibe and more. Now published at @bachtrack bachtrack.com/22/296/view/29…

Am guessing that those audiences rejected C19th operas with problematic storylines, & voted instead for community operas dealing with environmental and social issues relevant to their day-to-day lives. But then got overruled by Gatekeepers and made to watch Verdi anyway. Right?

Very sad to hear of the death of the tenor David Rendall, aged 76. Condolences to all his family, including his wife, the mezzo Diana Montague, and son, the baritone Huw Montague Rendall.

I've yet to see this production but this review makes me want to go since I can completely sense what the performance is like because it's so insightfully analysed and beautifullly balanced. Bravo.

My review of Lucia di Lammermoor at @operahollandpk is now published by @bachtrack, if you'd care to cast a glance.

Leith and Huffman's chamber *Billy Budd* sounds electrifying—stripped to its emotional core yet bolder than ever!

Part One of my two-part review from the @festival_aix is free to read this weekend at @MusicalAmerica. It features the fabulous chamber reduction of Britten's Billy Budd by Oliver Leith and Ted Huffman. An absolute highlight of my summer. musicalamerica.com/mnews/newsstor…

I don’t share many of her politics but the fact the Labour leadership spends more time criticising Diane Abbott than Benjamin Netanyahu is frankly bloody weird.

Off I go to the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the last edition overseen by the late Pierre Audi. I'll be seeing (and reviewing) 5 operas in 4 days. Scarcely dare look at the weather forecast...

Don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that except possibly the head of music at the arts council

Doing a reading so close I need an intimacy coordinator

This is what hunger looks like in the UK right now. ❌ No child should grow up in a home where there’s no food in the fridge. ❌ No parent should have to choose between eating and feeding their child.

Short Ride in a Fast Machine: Dudamel's LSO debut proves a mixed bag ✍️ Mark Valencia bachtrack.com/review-dudamel…

So sad to hear about the news of David Watkin A great man and BRILLIANT musician. His Bach ‘cello suites illuminate and inspire every time I listen, which is often! youtu.be/IfXGaAVOZnM?si…