Royal Opera
OperaShots, Royal OperaSaturday, 19 June 2010
Anyone hoping to take refuge from last night’s football fever in the solemn halls of the Royal Opera House would have scored something of an own goal. Heading the bill for OperaShots – a trio of new operas staged in the intimate Linbury Theatre –... Read more... |
What Makes a Great Tenor? BBC FourWednesday, 02 June 2010
Thus I approached What Makes a Great Tenor? in a spirit of moderate scepticism. Had appearing on Popstar to Operastar destroyed at a stroke the credibility of its presenter, the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón? In a bid for the dreaded "accessibility... Read more... |
Le nozze di Figaro, Royal OperaTuesday, 01 June 2010
The opening night of Le nozze di Figaro was not so much an opera of two halves as an opera of two teams. In the pit we had Sir Colin Davis and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House offering a crisply incisive rendering of Mozart’s score; onstage we... Read more... |
Opera Italia, BBC FourTuesday, 25 May 2010
The backlash begins here with the first of Flavia Rittner's three documentaries: not an operatic wannabe or a gushing celebrity outsider to present, only a conductor who knows and loves his job inside out and a parade of gorgeous, energetic singers... Read more... |
Production Gallery: The Royal Opera's La Fille Du RégimentTuesday, 18 May 2010
Click on a picture for full view and to enter slideshowDessay (Marie) and Corbelli (Sulpice)Dessay (Marie) and Florez (Tonio)Florez (Tonio)Dessay (Marie) and the Vingt-et-unièmeDessay (Marie) and the Vingt-et-unièmeDessay (Marie), Dawn French (... Read more... |
La Fille Du Régiment, Royal OperaMonday, 17 May 2010
You can take the girl out of the barracks but you can’t take the barracks out of the girl would be one way to sum up Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment (Daughter of the Regiment), which I can’t conceive could have a more ribtickling production, more... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Semyon BychkovWednesday, 14 April 2010
Yesterday afternoon, Semyon Bychkov's recording of Lohengrin won BBC Music Magazine's prestigious disc of the year. Last year, The Sunday Telegraph named his recording of Eugene Onegin one of the top 10 opera recordings of all time. Proof - if proof... Read more... |
1954 Cunning Little VixenFriday, 19 March 2010
Filmed extracts of a fantastically vivid 1954 production of Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen have been unearthed by the great blogger Doundou Tchil of Classical Iconoclast. Václav Neumann is the conductor; Berlin's Komische Oper is the house.... Read more... |
Tamerlano, Royal OperaFriday, 05 March 2010
Graham Vick's Tamerlano is less of an opera and more of a warning. In four and half hours you see 26 ways of how not to handle the Baroque aria. Dramatic success in Handel and his psychological flights of mainly soliloquising fancy is never easy but... Read more... |
Domingo withdrawsTuesday, 23 February 2010The Royal Opera House announced today that Plácido Domingo is withdrawing from next month's production of Tamerlano at Covent Garden. Domingo, who turned 69 in January, was due to sing the role of Bajazet in Handel's opera over seven performances... Read more... |
Così fan tutte, Royal Opera/ Joyce DiDonato, Wigmore HallSaturday, 30 January 2010
Two very different lessons on love this week. From the Aphrodite-like Joyce DiDonato at the Wigmore Hall, there emerged a correct, wise, honest way to achieve an enamoured state; from the familiarly fickle cast of Così fan tutte - an almost... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Antonio PappanoSaturday, 16 January 2010
Antonio Pappano (b. 1959) enjoys the best of two opulent worlds. At the Royal Opera House in London (now his home city), he's well stuck in to his seventh season as music director, basking in popularity and plaudits previous incumbents could only... Read more... |
