He is on 'artist in focus' this week, I enjoyed the english version magic flute arias lastnight

true,but,well,you knew what i was going on about, i am sure, yer know eh

I have his chandos magic flute in english version on cd, tis fabo tastical

Mills - you should have seen him swinging round the rigging, stripped to the waist, in Billy Budd. Women were swooning all over the place - as were some of the blokes...

He weren't a quarter bad in Pell & Mel last week, either - even though, thanks to the costume designer, he looked like a Tellytubby at Liberace's wedding (not my quote, alas!).

I just wanted to add to the praise for Simon Keenlyside - he's been a personal favourite of mine for some years.  I enjoyed the programmes dedicated to him - was especially taken by the Vaughan Williams Shakespeare settings, I never heard them before.  Oh, and Britten's Blake Songs in 'Afternoon Performance' were great too, pity the sound quality of Listen Again is so bad.  Maybe he will record them sometime.  I liked the extracts of 'Billy Budd' too, and I'm not much for Britten recordings without Britten, so... 

One of my first encounters with opera was with Simon Keenlyside - I saw him on tv, back in 1998, in Monteverdi's 'L'Orfeo', from Brussel's La Monnaie, in a stunning production by Trisha Brown.  The entire action was subtly choreographed - very impressive - it gave a static, stylized, antique feeling to the whole piece.  And Keenlyside was absolutely impressive as Orfeo - I don't remember well where I read this, but there was a remark that there's a 'hint of loneliness' about him, when he performs on stage. I think this is entirely true for his Orfeo, and it was very moving: he sang the whole thing enclosed in his own world of emotional tribulation; nothing was show, it was completely sincere.  His 'Possente spirto' is fifteen minutes of absolute beauty.  And he combines softness and power in a way that is very rare. 
The production is now on Opus Arte DVD, after so many years - I'm eager to buy it when I'll get a lucky financial break (or a weekend job).  It's Keenlyside in top form, before he really became famous (I think).  I was surprised to learn (again, don't know exactly where) that he had never really heard of Monteverdi's music or 'L'Orfeo' when he accepted the part - well, he made it entirely his own in the end.  It was this cooperation with Trisha Brown that lead to their joint 'Winterreise', which I have never seen, but am curious about. 

Was a bit disappointed by his first recital album - found the choice of arias odd - a lot of big dramatic baritone parts, and I don't like it when he has to sing to the maximum of his vocal powerall the time .

Still, super singer!