thu 28/08/2025

stephen walsh

Bio
Stephen is a former Observer music critic and a regular contributor to The Times, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Independent and the BBC. He is the author of a major biography of Stravinsky and other books on Stravinsky, Bartók and Schumann. He holds a chair in music at Cardiff University.

Articles By Stephen Walsh

Madama Butterfly, Glyndebourne review - perverse staging, outstanding cast

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BBC NOW, Alexandre Bloch, Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff review - tonal music in an avant-garde sense

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Stephen Walsh's Debussy - A Painter in Sound - extract

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Tosca, Welsh National Opera review - ticking the traditionalist boxes

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La forza del destino, Welsh National Opera review - rambling drama, fine music

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The World's Wife, Wales Millennium Centre, Weston Studio review - the power and frustration behind the throne

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From the House of the Dead, Welsh National Opera review - elderly staging, music comes up fresh

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Khovanshchina/Eugene Onegin, Welsh National Opera review - Russian revivals strong and weak

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The Magic Flute, Longborough Festival review - sparkling and moving

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Fidelio, Longborough Festival review - death to the concept of concepts

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Pelléas et Mélisande, Garsington Opera review - brilliant but frustrating

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Der Rosenkavalier, Welsh National Opera review - hard to imagine a stronger cast

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Tristan und Isolde, Longborough Festival

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L'Orfeo, EBS, Gardiner, Colston Hall, Bristol

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Y Tŵr, MTW, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

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L'Incoronazione di Poppea, EBS, Gardiner, Colston Hall, Bristol

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'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
King & Conqueror, BBC One review - not many kicks in 106...

In this strangely dreary recreation of 11th century history, it’s not just grim oop north, it’s grim everywhere. King & Conqueror...

Juniper Blood, Donmar Warehouse review - where ideas and ide...

Playwright Mike Bartlett is, like many writers, a chronicler of both contemporary manners and of the state of the nation. In his latest domestic...

Album: The Hives - The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives

The Hives must be one of the most self-assured bands around – but not without good reason. Ever exuberant, all their tunes are short and sweet,...

BBC Proms: Faust, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Nelsons revie...

Does the orchestra that sways together play together? Quite apart from their (reliably gorgeous) sound, the tight-packed strings of the...

Album: Benedicte Maurseth - Mirra

During the opening seconds of Mirra, an unusual sound leaps out – a grunting. It’s integral to a shifting aural pallete which also...

BBC Proms: Jansen, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mäkelä rev...

How often is an orchestral concert perfect in every texture, every instrumental entry, every phrase? Wednesday's Phiharmonia Prom struck sound-...

Blu-ray: Finis Terrae

British audiences of a certain age will note Finis Terrae’s similarity to Finisterre, one of the 31 sea areas listed in the BBC’s ...

The Gathered Leaves, Park Theatre review - dated script lift...

The Gathered Leaves is set on the tectonic plates of a middle-class family menu reunion, in which three generations grapple with the...