Live reviews

Off to the Barbican on Saturday to see Dido and Aeneas performed by Les Arts Florissants as part of their 30th birthday celebrations. We can expect William Christie to bring out the French influences in Purcell's music, but I will be interested to hear how the cast handle things. Especially given that the Dido, Malena Ernman, is Swedish , the Aeneas, Luca Pisaroni, is Italian and the Sorceress, Judith van Wanroij is Dutch. Still, I should not be chauvinistic there was some superb diction at the ENO's Le Grand Macabre and not all of it came from Anglophone singers. I'm getting to go to the dress rehearsal of Dido as well as the performance which should certainly be illuminating; will report back.