HMS Pinafore makes its ENO debut! Along with Latin and rugger, cross-dressing at my prep school in the early 1970s seemed to be compulsory. Some of my happiest days were spent dressed in a frock and bonnet, caked in pancake makeup, singing my heart out as one of the Three Little Maids in Gilbert and […]
Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle -Theatre of Sound – Preview
Theatre of Sound radically retells Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle Theatre of Sound is a new opera company that aims to place audiences at the heart of unique and immersive 360 opera experiences. It will launch in November 2021 with a brand new and intimate production of Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók presented in partnership with arts […]
Jenůfa – Review- Royal Opera House – Autumn 2021
Jenůfa – an accomplished and moving new production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. We are thrilled to review the first production of Jenůfa at Covent Garden since 2001. This season’s show is the postponed production from February 2021 by award-winning German director Claus Guth, with set design by Michael Levine, Costumes by Gesine […]
Royal Opera House – The Magic Flute – Review
A Magic Flute For Our Times How should a contemporary audience receive The Magic Flute? Mozart’s music is extraordinary, capable of conjuring up the darkest of emotions with a lightness of touch that is remarkable. But the narrative of this opera is superficially problematic and can be perceived as misogynistic, presenting the triumph of a […]
Rigoletto, Royal Opera House – Review
A luminous Rigoletto lights up the Garden After the financial and logistical nightmare of lockdown, it is wonderful to see the Royal Opera House roaring back in 2021 with their new season of ballet and opera. The 11 new productions, five of which are world premieres, are spearheaded by Oliver Mears’ production of Rigoletto. Mears […]
La Bohème – Carlisle Memorial Church, Belfast
La Bohème in Belfast with Northern Ireland Opera – Preview We are thrilled to be travelling to Belfast for the opening night of Northern Ireland Opera’s production of ‘La Bohème’ by Puccini. Australian director Cameron Menzies joined Northern Ireland Opera midway through the pandemic in February this year and this staging marks his first production […]
The Marriage of Figaro 2020 – ENO – Review
The Marriage of Figaro 2020, English National Opera – London Coliseum. If you’ve seen Amadeus, there are parts of the Marriage of Figaro that will be strikingly familiar. As Salieri describes the Countess forgiving her husband, he recognises that Mozart’s music manages somehow to convey the depth of human emotions in a way that makes […]
Fidelio – Royal Opera House – Review
Beethoven’s Only Opera, Fidelio, at the Royal Opera House. The hottest ticket in town this year – and I got one, thanks (probably) to Friday Rush! Why has this opera been such a draw? Well, partly at least because the hero, Florestan, was to be played by the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Described by Anthony […]
Madam Butterfly – English National Opera – Review
Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly What happens when you get an Oscar-winning film director to stage an opera? In the case of Madam Butterfly, directed by Anthony Minghella, first staged by ENO at the Coliseum in 2005, something extraordinary and beautiful. It’s a production that not only provides a new insight into the opera but also […]
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground – Review
Gerald Barry’s madcap Alice’s Adventures Under Ground at the Royal Opera House. It seems very pretty,” she said when she had finished it, “but it’s rather hard to understand!” (You see she didn’t like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn’t make it out at all.) “Somehow it seems to fill my head with […]