With an all-British programme bookended by Eastern influences, variously Buddhist and Sanskrit, this was one of those concerts that looked interesting on paper. The curiosity quota was high, but the…
Author: David Truslove
Under the Greenwood Tree: an impressive operatic debut from Paul Carr and Dorset Opera
How we respond to Paul Carr’s operatic makeover of Thomas Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree will depend on how much we consider the author’s 1872 publication to be an examination…
A finely sung and staged Rake’s Progress from The Grange Festival
Based on Hogarth’s 18th-century morality tale in eight paintings and with a pithy libretto by WH Auden and Chester Kallman, Stravinsky’s operatic farewell to neo-classicism charts Tom Rakewell’s ironic “progress”…
Puccini’s flawed Edgar from Opera Holland Park
A “blunder” was the verdict from Puccini’s biographer Mosco Carner in relation to the composer’s rarely performed second opera. Much has been voiced about the shortcomings of Edgar, Puccini himself…
Maximum emotional impact concludes a magnificent Ring cycle from Longborough
Longborough’s last two segments of Der Ring des Nibelungen outline the rise and fall of Siegfried, the demise of the Gods and the eventual return of the Ring to the…
Parts 1 and 2 of the Ring Cycle cherished at Longborough Festival Opera
Der Ring des Nibelungen is the centre piece of this year’s Longborough Festival – all four instalments of Wagner’s epic staged over three successive weeks. That the performances take place…
Garsington’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is long on mystery & short on magic
Netia Jones’s new staging of Britten and Pears’s take on Shakespeare’s play creates plenty of mystery, though not necessarily the kind that’s easy to appreciate. Her single monochrome set intrigues…
Welsh National Opera’s Outstanding Il trittico
Within the last year or so Welsh National Opera has produced some remarkable productions including two unforgettable stagings of Candide and Death in Venice. Now, Puccini’s Il trittico has begun…
Heart-rending Kátya Kabanová from Grange Park Opera
Guilt, shame and suicide are not everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to country house opera. And if Janáček’s angst-ridden masterpiece is not the obvious stimulant you’re hoping for,…
Sofia Kirwan-Baez & Longborough Festival Opera
David Truslove talks to the young, up-and-coming soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez – one of ten Emerging Artists to appear in Longborough Festival Opera’s new production of La bohème which runs from…