Opera
Verdi's Requiem / Capriccio, Edinburgh International Festival 2024 review - words, music, judgementTuesday, 27 August 2024
The Philharmonia’s residency was the centrepiece of the Edinburgh International Festival’s final weekend, and it’s right that the orchestra should be the focus because they were consistently the finest thing about both their Verdi Requiem and their... Read more... |
The Fabulist, Charing Cross Theatre review - fine singing cannot rescue an incoherent productionWednesday, 21 August 2024
On opening night, there’s always a little tension in the air. Tech rehearsals and previews can only go so far – this is the moment when an audience, some wielding pens like scalpels, sit in judgement. Having attended thousands on the critics’ side... Read more... |
Le nozze di Figaro, Komische Oper Berlin, Edinburgh International Festival 2024 review - great singing wastedTuesday, 20 August 2024
I’m all in favour of the EIF taking artistic risks, and of them bringing a high-prestige international production to Edinburgh. This Marriage of Figaro from Berlin’s Komische Oper is both of those things, because it is the first production by Kirill... Read more... |
Oedipus Rex, Scottish Opera, Edinburgh International Festival 2024 review - beautifully uncomplexWednesday, 14 August 2024
Immersive opera such as this can be tricky to pull off, but the magic of Roxana Haines’s new production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex lies in its simplicity, letting the material organically weave around the audience without overcomplications or... Read more... |
Prom 24, The Fairy Queen, Les Arts Florissants/Le Jardin des Voix, Agnew review - hip-hop hornpipesWednesday, 07 August 2024
“One charming night gives more delight than a hundred lucky days”. So claims one of the gorgeous (and, in this case, risqué) numbers that stud Purcell’s “semi-opera” The Fairy Queen like sequins on a flamboyant party gown.Directed by tenor-turned-... Read more... |
Tristan und Isolde, Glyndebourne review - infinite love at white heatSaturday, 03 August 2024
Richard Strauss described conducting Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde for the first time as "the most wonderful day of my life". It’s understandable that Glyndebourne’s music director Robin Ticciati should wish to improve upon “wonderful” in conducting a... Read more... |
The Butterfly House, Clonter Opera review - Puccini in biographical briefsWednesday, 24 July 2024
For 50 years Clonter Opera, the song-on-the-farm project in rural Cheshire, has been encouraging would-be opera stars by giving them a chance to perform in undemanding conditions under the guidance of experienced professional.It all began with... Read more... |
ll Segreto di Susanna/Pagliacci, Opera Holland Park review - on with the motley, out with the fagsThursday, 18 July 2024
Could “Cav and Pag” give way to “Sue and Pag”? As a double-bill partner for Leoncavallo’s backstage shocker Pagliacci, Opera Holland Park have scheduled not the standard Cavalleria Rusticana but an entirely different one-act work. Premiered in... Read more... |
First Person: trans opera singer Lucia Lucas on Tippett’s 'New Year' and her life in musicTuesday, 16 July 2024
Until last week, Tippett’s New Year had not been staged since 1990, probably because it’s considered very hard to produce. I think it is generally harder than Britten. It’s also an ensemble piece; you need 10 people who are fairly accomplished in... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Buxton International Festival - power and glory in early VerdiFriday, 12 July 2024
Buxton International Festival offers one thundering success, one uneasy compromise and one surprisingly enjoyable experience, in its three mainstage operas this year.Verdi’s Ernani is the thundering success. For the first time in years, the festival... Read more... |
First Person: Katharina Kastening on directing slimline Bizet in a year rich in 'Carmen' productionsSaturday, 06 July 2024
Peter Brook's reimagining of Bizet's Carmen condenses the scale of the original into a more intimate theatrical experience. The score has been starkly cut, the orchestra reduced, and only four singing roles remain: Carmen, Don José, Escamillo and... Read more... |
Orlando, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - madly beautifulTuesday, 02 July 2024
The Academy of Ancient Music, which celebrates its “golden anniversary” this season, got going just as Handel’s operas began to leave the library at last and reclaim the stage. There they continue to flourish, dazzle and move – which makes any... Read more... |
