After a triumphant season opening performance of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, I’m back at Garsington tonight for The Queen of Spades, the 2nd production of their 2025 season. Reuniting the same creative team of director Jack Furness, designer Tom Piper and conductor Douglas Boyd, from 2022’s well-received production of Dvorák’s Rusalka, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades with its themes of obsession, fate, and madness is a far cry from the frothy Italian romance of Donizetti’s opera. However, both works are thematically linked with a narrative framework of an outsider character in love with a seemingly unattainable social superior but with predictably different outcomes.
Wagner’s Final Opera Parsifal – Glyndebourne
Landmark production reframes Wagner’s medieval epic, Parsifal Three ‘firsts’ mark this production of Wagner’s final opera Parsifal at Glyndebourne. This is the first time the production has ever been staged at Glyndebourne, it marks the directorial debut at the prestigious opera house for Jetske Mijnssen and, if this was not momentous enough, it is also […]
Die Zauberflöte – Royal Academy of Music
Surgery never sounded so good Royal Academy of Music’s spring production this year was Die Zauberflöte. A potential pitfall for a student staging given the ubiquity of its music and the terrifying danger of missing a high F in der Hölle Rache. Despite the risks, the RAM carried it off with aplomb. Director Jamie Manton’s […]
The Magic Flute – Wilton’s Music Hall
This Magic Flute is a production well worth seeking out—breathing exhilarating new life into a cherished classic with wit, invention, and undeniable theatrical flair.
Summer in the City – The best outdoor arts events to book for this summer
f you find yourself spending summer in the city, there’s no reason to despair, you’ll find a plethora of fabulous events on hand to keep you amused. And, what could be better than watching your favourite opera, play or musical against a backdrop of the setting sun?
Phaedra + Minotaur at the Linbury
The flurry of four- and five-star reviews that poured from previous productions have resulted in Phaedra + Minotaur’s short stint at the Linbury being already sold out. Never fear, however, this feels like a production that will be revived once again.
The Marriage of Figaro – ENO
Everyone’s excited: it’s the opening night of the ENO’s first revival of Joe Hill-Gibbins’ production of The Marriage of Figaro – a show that ran only once before its forced end at the onset of the pandemic.
Top things to do on a visit to Sydney, Australia
When you think of Sydney the two images that probably immediately spring to mind are the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There are many things to see and do in this beautiful Australian city on a city break.
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 […]
The Rhinegold – English National Opera
ENO Strikes Wagnerian Gold In 2021, English National Opera announced a five-year plan to stage Richard Wagner’s The Ring cycle of four operas at the London Coliseum in a co-production with New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The ENO kicked things off in 2021 with The Valkyrie, the second of the operas, directed by eight-time Olivier Award-winner […]