Opera
Remembering Graham Vick (1953-2021) - top colleagues on one of the greatest opera directorsSaturday, 21 August 2021
Five weeks have passed since the death of opera director Graham Vick from complications due to Covid-19, shocking even to those of us (un)prepared for the worst, and yet so many of us think about him every day. For the musicians, actors, dancers and... Read more... |
A Night at the Opera, BBC Philharmonic, Glassberg, BBC Proms review - six of the bestTuesday, 17 August 2021
This delectable Prom hid behind the title "To Soothe the Aching Heart" the failsafe concept of a programme of the world’s favourite opera extracts, plus some. Take six British opera stars – three sopranos, two tenors and a mezzo – and assign them... Read more... |
Hansel and Gretel, British Youth Opera review - chaotic rewrite of a classic opera misses the markWednesday, 11 August 2021
It’s hard to know where to start with this chaotic Hansel and Gretel, and not just because Humperdinck’s opera has been cut, spliced and re-stitched with a brand-new libretto, new characters and multi-track, multi-option audio. The restless,... Read more... |
RhineGold, Birmingham Opera Company, Symphony Hall review - music-drama at the highest levelTuesday, 03 August 2021
The love of power corrupts, the power of love falters or fails. The essence of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is also what Graham Vick communicated so stunningly in many of his unforgettable productions with his Birmingham Opera Company (... Read more... |
Luisa Miller, Glyndebourne review – small-scale tragedy, big emotionsMonday, 02 August 2021
“Time-travelling” is how Enrique Mazzola, the superb first conductor of Glyndebourne’s last new production of the main season, described the slow-burn trajectory of Verdi’s semi-masterpiece Luisa Miller in his First Person here on theartsdesk.... Read more... |
The Cunning Little Vixen, Longborough Festival Opera review - life, death and the menopause in the forestSunday, 01 August 2021
There are advantages and disadvantages about opera-in-the-round, and it’s a format that suits some operas better than others. Longborough’s Cunning Little Vixen, staged by Olivia Fuchs in their new big-top tent, makes the very most of the advantages... Read more... |
First Person: conductor Enrique Mazzola on Verdi's time-travelling 'Luisa Miller'Friday, 30 July 2021
It is difficult to know why some operas succeed while others remain unknown. The reasons can be emotional or historical, or it might be as simple as a poor cast who couldn’t quite launch the opera into the stars. In the case of Luisa Miller, we have... Read more... |
Opera in Song, Opera Holland Park review – world-class singers in a brilliant recital triptychWednesday, 28 July 2021
Now that the summer opera-house companies have pulled off staged triumphs under the most difficult of circumstances, it’s time to celebrate semi-al-fresco concerts. Not so many have cropped up as I’d hoped after the success of the Battersea Park... Read more... |
Le Comte Ory, Garsington Opera review - high musical style and broad dramatic comedyFriday, 23 July 2021
Play it straight and you’ll get more laughs: that’s the standard advice on great operatic comedies like the masterpieces of the Gilbert & Sullivan canon, Britten’s Albert Herring, Verdi’s Falstaff, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. In comparison, for... Read more... |
Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance, Royal Opera review – breathtaking young talentTuesday, 20 July 2021
Instant sell-out would have been guaranteed if the Royal Opera had advertised this as “Cardiff Singer of the World finalist Masabane and fellow Young Artists”. No doubt about it, South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha is indeed the most... Read more... |
Il ritorno d'Ulisse, Longborough Festival Opera review - gods and grunge on the long journey homeMonday, 19 July 2021
They showed Clash of the Titans the other night – not the wretched remake, but the original 1981 sword-and-sandals cheesefest, complete with Ray Harryhausen’s Kraken, Ursula Andress as Aphrodite and that rip-roaring Laurence Rosenthal score. And, of... Read more... |
L'amico Fritz, Opera Holland Park review - slow-burning love, Italian styleSaturday, 17 July 2021
“If this is love, then why have I fought it?” The stock romantic-comedy prevarications had a Greenwich Village setting in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town at Opera Holland Park less than two weeks ago. Last night, the place was nominally Alsace but the... Read more... |
