Opera
Imeneo, Academy of Ancient Music, Hogwood, Barbican HallThursday, 30 May 2013
There are Handel operas where you wait impatiently for the handful of truly original set-pieces to light up the action, hoping the singers are equal to their challenges. One such is surely Siroe, Re di Persia, bravely staged at the Göttingen Handel... Read more... |
London Contemporary Orchestra, Hugh Brunt, Aldwych StationTuesday, 28 May 2013
Three hundred years ago we danced and ate to art music. Before that we worshipped to it. In the 19th century we began to sit and stare at it. The immersive music movement of the past decade has moved things along again. Today we are encouraged to... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Göttingen: Handel goes eastSunday, 26 May 2013
Let me confess: I had to return to lovely Göttingen as much for the frogs as for the Handel. Puffing out their throats like bubblegum, the amphibians' brekekekek chorus in the ponds of the great university’s botanic gardens actually made a more... Read more... |
Lohengrin, Welsh National OperaFriday, 24 May 2013
What is one to make of Lohengrin, Wagner’s last “opera” (as opposed to music drama), in this day and age? Is it a medieval romance, like Weber’s Freischütz but with a deus ex machina at the beginning rather than the end; or is it a nineteenth-... Read more... |
Falstaff, Glyndebourne Festival OperaMonday, 20 May 2013
In this revival of Richard Jones's 2009 production, the action has been very effectively shifted to post-war Windsor with Sir John Falstaff (Laurent Naouri) as down-at-heel gentry maintaining delusions of superiority, rubbing up against an ascendant... Read more... |
Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne Festival OperaSunday, 19 May 2013
The Major-Domo promises fireworks during the Prologue of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Ariadne auf Naxos. Katharina Thoma, the director of Glyndebourne’s new staging, drops a bombshell - actually several bombshells. Glyndebourne’s wartime history (as a... Read more... |
Lulu, WNOSunday, 19 May 2013Lulu (Berg) Welsh National Opera Natascha Petrinsky, Mez zo-soprano: Countess Geschwitz Patricia Orr, Mezzo-soprano: Theatrical Dr esser Ashley Holland, Baritone: Dr. Schön / Jack the Ripper Peter Hoare , Tenor: Alwa Richard Agnas, Baritone:... Read more... |
The Lighthouse, English Touring Opera, Linbury StudioSunday, 19 May 2013Peter Maxwell Davies’ opera thriller based on the true story ofthe mysterious disappearance of the three Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers . Conductor Richard BakerDirector Ted HuffmanDesigner Neil IrishLightingDesigner Guy Hoare Read more... |
Billy Budd, ENO, London ColiseumSunday, 19 May 201318n June-8 July: Britten's Billy Budd NEW PRODUCTION. A metaph ysical battle between good and evil fought out aboard a British man-o'-war , Britten’s richly orchestrated all-male opera was originally commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain... Read more... |
Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade, Garsington OperaSunday, 19 May 2013L'Olimpiade, RV 725 (Vivaldi) (World premiere of new critical edition) Garsington Opera Company Emily Fons, Soprano Michael Maniaci , Sopranist Rosa Bove, Mezzo-soprano Tim Mead, Countertenor Ruby Hugh es, Soprano Riccardo Novaro, Baritone William... Read more... |
The Minotaur, ROHSunday, 19 May 2013The Minotaur (Birtwistle) Royal Opera Ryan Wigglesworth, C onductor Stephen Langridge, Director Christine Rice, Mezzo-soprano: Ari adne Johan Reuter, Baritone: Theseus John Tomlinson, Bass: The Minotaur Andrew Watts, Countertenor: Snake Priestess... Read more... |
Albert Herring, English Touring Opera, Linbury StudioSunday, 19 May 2013Michael Rosewell conducts Britten’s witty depiction of English village life in this classic comedic masterpiece. Conductor Michael Rose wellDirector Christopher RollsDesigner Neil IrishLighting Designer Guy Hoar e Read more... |
