A domestic drama as good as any: Wagner’s Die Walküre in the Regents Opera Ring

A kitchen sink drama really is nothing new. It’s been around for as long as human beings have been inhabiting a shared domestic space. The first act of Wagner’s Die…

Das Rheingold kicks off Regents Opera’s Ring in a ring

Everything about Wagner is big – very big. The instrumentation for the preliminary evening of Der Ring der Nibelungen alone encompasses eight horns doubling on Wagner tubas, seven harps and…

Treachery and lechery in English National Opera’s new The Marriage of Figaro

I’ve always found it strange that in the English language the title of one of the most popular pieces in the repertory is rendered as The Marriage of Figaro. The…

A disconcerting new Ariadne auf Naxos at Hamburg State Opera

The problem with all myths is that there is no such thing as an Urtext. They’re handed down from one generation to the next, and it’s a very long stretch from…

The Nash Ensemble celebrate 60 years in and with style

There are few composers with an innate ability to write so captivatingly for the human voice as Richard Strauss. Towards the very end of his career, in 1947, he offered…

Of human suffering: the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s powerful Shostakovich Babi Yar

You’d have to be a strange kind of human being not to smell death in Shostakovich’s Thirteenth Symphony. Icy, spooky and deeply unsettling orchestral sounds at the outset give way…

Fine singing in English National Opera’s new production of The Elixir of Love

OK, so here’s the deal. I can sell you a love potion which will make the object of your desire fall head over heels in love with you. Guaranteed. You…

Why aligning yourself with Satanic forces is never a good idea: Staatsoper Hamburg’s new production of Der Freischütz

It’s not an uncommon experience for people to wake up in the middle of the night, believing they have heard unsettling noises, or feeling those early palpitations of concern about…

Fun and games in Vienna: the Guildhall’s Die Fledermaus

Beware the dangers of playing pranks on friends who might nurse their grudges until the right moment presents itself to seek redress. Revenge is after all a dish best served…

In times of want: English National Opera’s La bohème

Away from all the bright lights, the mesmerising world of show business, there’s another world: the world of the poor, the needy and the downtrodden. Who ever thought such a…