There’s nothing particularly Russian, or Slavic, about Paul Curran’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades at The Grange Festival, though it’s heartening to see singers displaced from their…
Author: Claire Seymour
Country Life: L’elisir d’amore at Longborough Festival Opera
After John Doyle’s spartan Werther at Grange Park Opera, in which the locale was essentially a symbolic representation of the lovelorn protagonist’s mind, at Longborough Festival Opera for their production…
Into the woods … Werther at Grange Park Opera
In his programme book article accompanying John Doyle’s new production of Massenet’s Werther at Grange Park Opera, Rupert Christiansen describes the opera’s musical highlights as being scenes that ‘flow in…
Another escape from the Seraglio: André Grétry’s La caravane du Caire at the Chateau de Versailles
André Grétry’s opéra-ballet La caravane du Caire is certainly not fashioned for the MeToo# age. It was given a private performance at Fontainebleau in 1783 and then presented the following…
Tosca at Grange Park Opera
I didn’t see Peter Relton’s production of Tosca for Grange Park Opera when it inaugurated the company’s new Theatre in the Woods at West Horsley in 2017, so it was…
A double bill of Gluck and Purcell which dances, ducks and dives at The Grange Festival
Reviewing Daniel Slater’s production of Handel’s Tamerlano at The Grange Festival last year, I remarked that there was ‘so little directorial intervention that what few such gestures there are stick…
A superb cast make Tim Albery’s enigmatic Mitridate at Garsington compelling
Mozart had already got three operas under his belt – as well as numerous oratorios and masses, symphonies and sonatas – when the fourteen-year-old prodigy was commissioned to compose an…
LIVE From London Summer 2023
The VOCES8 Foundation presents the tenth iteration of its acclaimed online concert series with nine concerts covering six centuries of stunning repertoire, including world premieres and celebrations of iconic anniversaries.…
A stylish, sunny Il barbiere di Siviglia at Garsington
Simon Higlett’s stylish designs handsomely set the scene for Christopher Luscombe’s new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia at Garsington, transporting us to the narrow, cobbled streets of that Spanish…