The Telegraph — This live Covent Garden recording of Agostino Steffani's opera is perky and spirited, says Rupert Christiansen more info

Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonUntil the Royal Opera staged his Niobe, Queen of Thebes in 2010, the name of the Italian composer Agostino Steffani made few waves in the UK beyond the preserves of baroque specialists. Now Cecilia Bartoli has given his reputation a f... more info

Guardian Music — Wigmore Hall, LondonVéronique Gens was last seen in London in the title role of Steffani's Niobe at Covent Garden in 2010, and it is in the 17th- and 18th-century operatic repertoire, up to and including Mozart, that the French soprano has forged he... more info

WFMU's Beware of the Blog — Cinema, spirits and soul! Monica opened her show with a set that included Niobe, Spiritualized, The Stylistics, and Nino Rota. Sharon Van Etten recently played her entire new album, Tramp, at the Mercury Lounge. She and band mate Heather Woods... more info

Topix — SING ON! Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky was stellar in BEMF's Niobe as well as a Handel/Vivaldi recital with Apollo's Fire. more info

Altsounds — *Niobe *is the brainchild of *Yvonne Cornelius*, composer of colourful, complex arrangements and vocal virtuoso. Her latest album, *The Cclose Calll*, to be released on *Tomlab *on the *12th December,* is made up of 12 composition... more info

Topix — This is the Baroque opera production I've been waiting for. Not because of the opera itself - I'd never heard of either the composer, Agostino Steffani , who overlaps with Lully, Purcell, and Handel; or the opera, Niobe, Regina di Tebe , before the B... more info

Guardian Music — Shepherd's Bush Empire, LondonTake a fleeting glance at the four white-clad figures on stage at this NME awards show, and you would be forgiven for fearing they make bloodless, Johnny Borrell-inspired indie. But as Daniel Snaith, the Canadian-born, L... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Opera House, London; Coliseum, London; Welsh National Opera, CardiffLike Niobe, all tears. Hamlet managed to say in four words what Agostino Steffani took four hours to expound. Niobe was Queen of Thebes, as related in Ovid, whose children die ... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Opera House, London"All tears" is how Shakespeare famously described Niobe, the mythic queen of Thebes, whose pride was punished by the gods with the death of her children, and whose grief was so unremitting that she was eventually transformed ... more info