An un-refigured Figaro The Royal Ballet and Opera’s new season returns with a familiar classic. David McVicar’s indefatigable production of The Marriage of Figaro. In 1783 Mozart wrote to his father Leopold of his hopes for a collaboration with a certain Abbate da Ponte. He said he needed several essentials for his new work, that […]
Regents Opera – Don Giovanni
Scooby Don The peacocking libertine strides onto the stage to unfurl his finery. No glimmering collection of colour shock here. Rather, the embroidered listings of former conquests battle for space on the crowded lining. Poetasting aside, this is how Regents Opera begin its version of Don Giovanni with Leporello’s little black book replaced with a […]
Le Nozze di Figaro – Garsington Opera
The Wedding of The Season There are few operas so able to elicit a joyful response by their mere mention as Le Nozze di Figaro. For many opera fans, myself included, each aria forms a beloved collection of recollections of performances past. This can be a double-edged sword as each production is measured against hundreds […]
Alcina – Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Too hot to Handel Handel’s Alcina sits comfortably next to Giulio Cesare and Ariodante in the roster of his finest pieces. Described by Edward Blakeman as “Wonderful from start to finish” it is one of the most accessible and successful baroque operas. Guildhall School are presenting it as one of their student performances. The vocal […]
L’Olimpiade – INO at the Linbury
L’Olimpiade – Well Sung Youthful Collaboration with Irish National Opera The Paris Olympics is fast approaching and what a marvellously operatic subject it is. The clash of competing heroes, the drama of the backstories, the misery and tragedy of the losses, the triumph and national glory. Presented by the Irish National Opera at the Royal […]
Lucia Di Lammermoor – ROH, Review – Larynx-shredding vocals and coloratura to die for.
An enthralling tragedy unveiled – no need for surtitles in this exemplary Lucia di Lammermoor In 1835 Gaetano Donizetti needed a win. His last opera Marino Faliero had been a flop in Paris. His rival Luigi Cherubini wasted no time in penning dismissive articles and poising himself as Rossini’s true successor. Donizetti returned to Naples […]
Madama Butterfly – Royal Opera House
Float on, white winged Butterfly Giacomo Puccini certainly knew how to stir a controversy, if only a century after his death. Madama Butterfly, first performed in 1904, sits alongside Turandot as most likely to cause complaint on its performance. Butterfly can be a victim of its own success. It’s legion of poor quality copycats, the […]
Giant – Royal Opera House review
Fee Fi Fo Fum I smell the story of an Irishman Following it’s world Premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival last year, Sarah Angliss’s Giant has made its way to the Lindbury theatre. Giant is based on the true story of 18th century “Irish Giant” Charles Byrne. Byrne was an enormously tall man who made his […]
The Magic Flute ENO
A magic Magic Flute Mozart’s Magic Flute should need no introduction. One of the most performed pieces of musical theatre, a piece so sacrosanct that fascist governments were scared to tamper with it. In The Queen Of the Night’s Der Hölle Rache it has the defining coloratura aria, written to show off Mozart’s sister-in-law’s high […]
A Star Next to the Moon – Review
The Ossified Memories of what might have been A Star Next to the Moon is the product of nearly two decades of labour by composer Stephen McNeff. The Guildhall School of Music and Drama are continuing their run of interesting pieces by giving it its world premiere as part of the spring season. A Star […]