With what might (if one were risking facetiousness) be termed a ìfalse-setî of four countertenors in the cast, this was always going to be an intriguing production of Handelís Giulio Cesare for aficionados of a voice type which has revolutionised the perception (and popularity) of baroque opera over the past 15 years.
Category: Performances
The Minotaur ó Royal Opera, Covent Garden
Harrison Birtwistle’s new full-scale opera, commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, is a study of isolation and imprisonment.
(Mostly) Pretty Poison
What to make of “Lucrezia Borgia”? I have always felt that, some lovely arias notwithstanding, this Donizetti work never really gets going until the slam-bang soprano-baritone duet in Act II.
Frankurt Opera ó The Rape of Lucretia
Plainly put, Frankfurt Operaís ìThe Rape of Lucretiaî could be offered as a textbook example of just how great a performance can be when everything goes right.
Barenboim and Berlin ó beauty and brilliance
BERLIN ó Which car-rental agency was it that was once No. 2 and ìtrying harder?î
ANNA BOLENA ñ English Touring Opera
In a climate in which bel canto opera seems to be enjoying a steady and welcome revival, ETO opened their current season with a welcome production of Donizetti’s historically dubious…
SUSANNAH ñ English Touring Opera
The most interesting opera on ETO’s Spring 2008 tour was Carlisle Floyd’s 1950s tale of religious hypocrisy in the rural Deep South, based on the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders.
Berlinís ìotherî opera often stellar
It is, you might say, the little opera that can. True, if itís size of the budget, the price of tickets and the number of seats that concerns you, the Komische Oper is clearly the third of Berlinís opera houses.