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…

Compelling performances from OperaUpClose:
Riders to the Sea & The Last Bit of the Moon

What does one perform with Vaughan Williams’s seldom heard one act tragedy about a mother who has lost her last surviving son somewhere off the west coast of Ireland? Drawn…

A powerful and unsettling Aida at the Royal Opera House

An empty stage enclosing grey walls of a concrete bunker. This is the initial impression we have of Robert Carsen’s Aida, presented at the Royal Opera House in a first revival by Gilles…

L’Amant Anonyme in Philadelphia

Among classical composers, Joseph Bologne’s biography is unique. Born in 1745 in the French Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe as the illegitimate son of a wealthy planter and a 19-year-old creole…

La Fanciulla del West in Bologna

Banished for the moment from its historic 1763 theater (closed for the renovation of its public areas) the prestigious Teatro Comunale di Bologna finds itself at the Comunale Nouveau [sic],…

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…

Kentridge’s Die Zauberflöte adds Christmasy touches at the New National Theatre, Tokyo

In December, Japanese theatres and concert halls customarily perform two blockbusters: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Now, a third seasonal piece might have been discovered: certainly William Kentridge’s 2005…

Rossini’s Guillaume Tell Triumphs at the New National Theatre Tokyo

To most Japanese, the overture of Guillaume Tell (William Tell) is familiar, evoking memories of Sports Day at elementary school. Nevertheless, this was the first full-scale staged production of Rossini’s…

ENO’s fun-filled Pirates of Penzance

Currently showing at the Coliseum, few would argue this revival of Mike Leigh’s Pirates of Penzance isn’t entertaining. Never mind the absurd storyline involving an apprentice pirate whose wish to…

Fanny and Alexander: world premiere of Mikael Karlsson’s opera at La Monnaie, Brussels

Not only are Ingmar Bergman’s films very ‘operatic’ in their poetic but visceral way of dealing with matters of life and death, opera as an art form had a place…