Opera Reviews
The Magic Flute, English National Opera review - return of an enchanted eveningThursday, 29 February 2024
Trials by fire and water pale in comparison with trials by Arts Council England. English National Opera’s long torment has lately involved redundancy notices issued mid-performance and the enforcement of a sub-standard contract for chorus and musicians. Read more...
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Così fan tutte, Welsh National Opera review - relevance reduced to irrelevanceTuesday, 27 February 2024
We can’t do without Così fan tutte; it’s an irresistible masterpiece. But it’s a thorn in the flesh of modern directors, who struggle to find the "relevance" they seem to need in order to get the wretched piece on to the stage. Read more... |
Manon Lescaut, English Touring Opera review - a nightmare in too many waysMonday, 26 February 2024
Opera in Britain is currently cursed by funders, politicians and ideologues – of right and left – who heartily detest the form. Alas, some directors do their work for them with interpretations seemingly designed to undermine the very art they are employed to serve. English Touring Opera (rare beneficiaries of a recent boost to their public subsidy) have regularly excelled in the past. They will do so again. Read more... |
Marx in London, Scottish Opera review - the humour of history made manifestFriday, 23 February 2024
An opera about a day in the life of Karl Marx doesn’t exactly sound like a barrel of laughs. But then so much of Jonathan Dove’s witty 2018 work proves that things are not always what they seem, whether that’s through Dove’s jaunty score-writing, Charles Hart’s ingenious libretto or Jürgen Weber’s drolly imagined scenario. Read more... |
Cavalleria Rusticana/Aleko, Opera North review - a new foil for MascagniFriday, 16 February 2024
Opera North have a new pairing for Mascagni’s popular but clichéd Cavalleria Rusticana in this double bill: an early Rachmaninov one-acter, written when he was 19. The production of the former is a revival of the one seen in 2017 in their Little Greats season, and its director then, Karolina Sofulak, has returned to create this Aleko alongside it. Read more... |
Così fan tutte, Opera North review - a safe betSaturday, 03 February 2024
Reviving Tim Albery’s production of Così fan tutte, now almost 20 years old, again at Leeds Grand Theatre, Opera North have a bet that’s as safe as Don Alfonso’s in the story – that “Women are all the same”. It’s a sure-fire winner, and the best part this time round lies in the balance and contrast of both voices and personalities in the casting of the central pairs of lovers. Read more... |
The Handmaid's Tale, English National Opera review - last chance saloon for sub-Atwood baggy monsterFriday, 02 February 2024
Never underestimate the enduring power of a great story over an unwieldy operatic setting. Few of us who saw the first ENO production of The Handmaid’s Tale back in 2003 thought the work stood much chance of revival. Yet Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel has justifiably gained even greater hold since then, so here we are on a third run of Poul Ruders’ baggy monster. Read more... |
Elektra, Royal Opera review - moral: don’t wait too long for revengeSaturday, 13 January 2024
Those were happy days back in 2014 when, justifiably flushed with the success of the Royal Opera’s Tristan und Isolde revival, director Christof Loy, music director Antonio Pappano and soprano Nina Stemme mooted possibly the toughest role challenge of them all, that of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s vengeful obsessive Elektra. Yet nearly a decade is a long time in the life of a dramatic soprano, and on last night’s evidence, it's come too late in London. Read more... |
Albert Herring, Opera North review - immersive and intimate funSaturday, 13 January 2024
Reviving Giles Havergal’s 2013 production from its “Festival of Britten” of that year, Opera North have an Albert Herring that’s both immersive and intimate, to quote their own publicity. Read more... |
Jenůfa, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - a variegated but gorgeous bouquetFriday, 12 January 2024
An inexhaustible masterpiece shows different facets with each new interpretation. I’d thought of Jenůfa, Janáček's searing tale of Moravian village life based on a great play by a pioneering woman (Gabriela Preissová), as an open razor rushing through the world, cutting left and right. Simon Rattle presented instead an opulent bouquet, one slowly purged of the poisonous blooms within it. Read more... |
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