Opera
Il turco in Italia, Glyndebourne review – who knew 1950s neorealism could be such fun?Monday, 24 May 2021
The new Glyndebourne production of Rossini's Il turco in Italia has a truly winning smile on its face and a spring and a dance in its musical step. It is brimful of fun and good ideas, conveying the sense that a lot of joy has been had in its making... Read more... |
Káťa Kabanová, Glyndebourne review - a misalliance of metatheatre and the mundaneFriday, 21 May 2021
Angels and birds throng the inner life of tragic heroine Katya Kabanova, very much centre-stage in Nikolay Ostrovsky’s The Storm and achingly so in Janáček’s musical portrait. Director Damiano Michieletto takes the feathers, adds cages and... Read more... |
Current, Rising, Royal Opera House review - a joyful celebration of storytelling possibilityFriday, 21 May 2021
This isn’t an opera review, because Current, Rising is not an opera. What it is, however, is the most convincing example yet that Virtual Reality arts might not just be possible, but desirable – an experience that glances beyond gimmick towards... Read more... |
La clemenza di Tito, Royal Opera review - light and dark in near-perfect balanceTuesday, 18 May 2021
It looked as if the Royal Opera might be trying to keep its distance with the first new production since lockdown. After all, Mozart’s last opera – only the Overture and March of the Priests in The Magic Flute remained to be composed in the fatal... Read more... |
Europe Day Concert, St John's Smith Square online review – celebrating in styleMonday, 10 May 2021
We may not be in the EU any more, but geographically and culturally we can celebrate being part of Europe as much as we jolly well like. For Europe Day, the European Parliament Liaison Office, the Camōes Institute, the Embassy of Portugal and the... Read more... |
Christa Ludwig, 1928-2021: a selective tributeFriday, 07 May 2021
I only saw Christa Ludwig twice live in concert, but those appearances epitomise her incredible dramatic and vocal rage as well as her peerless artistry in everything she did. The first event was Schubert’s Winterreise with pianist Charles Spencer... Read more... |
The Seven Deadly Sins / Mahagonny Songspiel, Royal Opera online - modern morality tales mesh uneasilySaturday, 10 April 2021
There are so many good ideas, so much talented hard work from the singers of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme and two dancers, such a cinematic use of the Royal Opera House, that Isabelle Kettle’s interweaving of two Brecht/Weill mini... Read more... |
L'heure espagnole, Grange Park Opera online review - seduction and sandwiches in 60 minutesTuesday, 30 March 2021
Some production concepts seem so obvious, in retrospect, that you wonder why they haven’t been tried more often. Traffic hums in the foreground in the opening shots of Grange Park Opera’s new film of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, the passing cars... Read more... |
Siegfried, Göteborg Opera online review - a hero for our timesMonday, 29 March 2021
The team of Stephen Langridge (director), Alison Chitty (design) and Paul Pyant (lighting) produced a quietly radical Parsifal at the Royal Opera in 2013, finding both beauty and horror in unexpected corners. On the strength of its third instalment... Read more... |
Shakespeare Re-Shaped, Opera Up Close online review - Verdi on the sofaWednesday, 24 March 2021
The screen lights up, the Zoom link connects and there, blinking back at you (30% awkward, 70% enthusiastic) is a familiar face. Is it definitely working? Can you hear me? What do we say now? God, I'm getting old. Even after 12 months of... Read more... |
Der Rosenkavalier, Bavarian State Opera online review - myth-making magicMonday, 22 March 2021
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time stalk this haunting dream of a Rosenkavalier. The love games of teenager Octavian and his experienced mistress the Marschallin are sexy and plausible; the comedy of ridiculous Baron Ochs keeps a low profile, but stays... Read more... |
First Person: Anna Lucia Richter on Monteverdi and a transition from soprano to mezzoSaturday, 13 March 2021
It’s actually quite a strange feeling to know that my CD Il delirio della passione is now out. I recorded this amazing, all-embracing Monteverdi project with Luca Pianca and Ensemble Claudiana over a year ago, in January 2020. That was another world... Read more... |
