We’re Screwed Benjamin Britten’s sexual passion for pre-twelves is always an odd part of his history to learn about. Various admirers and biographers portray him not as a paedophile but as the far more acceptable pederast. Britain’s most popular operatic composer couldn’t just be a run-of-the-mill nonce, no sir! Nicest man you could ever hope […]
Siegfried – Regents Opera
He’s not the saviour of Valhalla, He’s a very naughty boy The Regents Opera ring cycle is a series I’ve been following with pleasure since it stormed into London with an unforgettable with Das Rheingold in 2022. Artistic director and conductor Ben Woodward has re-arranged the scoring of Wagner’s monumental series for a far more […]
The Handmaid’s Tale – ENO
Stuck under each other’s heels Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian vision of a religious extremist United States, transformed into the repressive republic of Gilead. Women who have committed such crimes as “having an abortion after gang rape” and “marrying a divorcee” are forced into the role of Handmaid. Handmaids are […]
The Met Live In HD – Carmen
Getting Bizet wid it One potentially perverse joy of The Met: Live in HD series is the opportunity to see productions which have been in the news for the wrong reasons. Among reports of sets having to be repaired at the last minute and sickness among the opening performers, The Met’s new Carmen seemed like […]
Florencia En El Amazonas: Met Live Stream
Florencia and the Machine Florencia En El Amazonas (1996) is not a common opera to come across this side of the pond. Composer Daniel Catán was determined to introduce Latin American and Caribbean elements into Operatic music. Streamed as the third opera in The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series it’s part of their push […]
Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci Royal Opera House
They’ve put comrade Turridu in a home Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci or, more familiarly, Cav and Pag is an archetypal one-act opera pairing. It’s hard to imagine two more closely matched pieces. Both were early exponents of Italian Opera’s Verismo movement towards greater theatrical reality. Both were created by rags-to-riches, one-hit-wonder Italian composers in the […]
Don Giovanni: Glyndebourne Autumn 2023
Killing Commendatore A balaclava-clad rapist bursts from the hotel room of his planned victim, propelled out by her screams. Her father charges in to save his daughter but is struck down by the rapist who speeds off into the night. Is this a new Netflix drama? No, It’s Don Giovanni, back at Glyndebourne for the […]
The Dante Project: Royal Opera House.
Abandon all hope ye who don’t enter From Homer’s Odessey to Virgil’s Aeneid and Dante’s Divine Comedy there is a clearly traceable line of genius in western storytelling. The latest feet to stand on those immortal shoulders are those of the creative team behind the Royal Opera House’s “The Dante Project.” Returning from its 2021 […]
Opera Double Bill, Respighi – Guildhall School
Have they awoken a sleeping beauty? Ottorino Respighi is hardly a household name for opera. More well known for his orchestral tone poems such as the Fountains and Pines of Rome, Respighi’s operatic output languishes outside of the canon. Guildhall school of music and drama are determined to buck that trend, staging a double bill […]
La Traviata ENO review
It’s curtains for Violetta Ah that feverish moment of excitement at the beginning of an opera. The lights dim, the overture swells and the curtain sweeps up to reveal… Another curtain? In Peter Konwitschny’s production of La Traviata at the ENO the curtain is the set. If all the World’s a Stage and, by extension, […]