In their different musical styles and forms, these two works offer a critique of the American Dream in its endless pursuit of material affluence, and how that impacts upon personal…
Author: Curtis Rogers
Glyndebourne’s First Orfeo Is Musically Outstanding but Hampered by an Overloaded Staging
Although not the earliest opera, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) is the first masterpiece of the genre, and surprisingly Glyndebourne has never staged it before. It fits in with the festival’s present…
Psychological Insight Allied with an Enthralling Musical Account of Tristan and Isolde at Longborough
Wagner described his epoch-making Tristan und Isolde as a monument erected to the ‘most beautiful dream’ of happiness in love, implying that this is an illusion lying beyond everyday reality,…
Fervour and Commitment from Chelsea Opera Group in Mozart’s Precocious Idomeneo
Although Idomeneo (1781) is Mozart’s first indisputable operatic masterpiece and was a work for which he retained considerable affection, it still receives surprisingly few performances, either on stage or in concert.…
Colourful, Entrancing World Premiere of Tavener’s Krishna at Grange Park Opera
Rather like the theological principle of the via negativa as a way of discoursing about the divine, it is perhaps easier to say what John Tavener’s last work, Krishna (completed…
An elusive atmosphere and subdued choreography make for an enigmatic Orlando at Longborough
Sinéad O’Neill’s production of Handel’s Orlando, a study in love-induced derangement adapted from Ariosto’s famous poetic epic, paradoxically refrains from replicating the title character’s mania in any frantic choreography and is…
Musically Excellent but Culturally Insensitive Interpretation of Handel’s Julius Caesar in Egypt at the Grange Festival
If Edward Said had written Orientalism today, then David Alden’s production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare for the Grange Festival could be cited as Exhibit A for evidence of the West’s…
Love, life and art remain to the fore in the Grange Festival’s La bohème despite stated political aims
Unlike his operatic forbear, Verdi, or his contemporary in Germany, Wagner, Puccini wasn’t interested in politics, nor are his operas motivated or driven by political issues, despite the implied politics of poverty…
A powerful and moving La fanciulla del West opens Opera Holland Park’s season
Despite its large cast, the drama of La fanciulla del West (1910) is ultimately one of the more intimate of Puccini’s operas, centred on the love triangle between Minnie, owner of the…
Kosky’s Royal Opera House Ring Continues with Incisive Simplicity in Siegfried
Having set up his themes in the previous instalments of the Ring in the Royal Opera’s past two seasons, Barrie Kosky relaxes a little in Siegfried, the cycle’s third part,…