A new operatic work with an original story is a joy to anticipate, and Santa Fe Opera’s World Premiere of The Righteous is to be applauded for its bountiful creativity…
Category: Staged Operas
A Barber of Seville that combines Italian and Spanish elements in the quintessentially English gardens at West Green
The theatre at West Green already has the house as the background beyond the lawn at its open back. Victoria Newlyn’s production of The Barber of Seville, therefore, simply reduces…
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…
Il ritorno d’Ulisse at the Aix Festival
Pierre Audi, the artistic director of the Aix Festival, completed the Aix Festival’s Monteverdi cycle just now by staging, himself, this Il ritorno d’Ulisse (1640). L’Orfeo (1607) was staged by…
High infidelity – a double bill of comedy and tragedy at Opera Holland Park
‘Cav and Pag get a divorce’ is Opera Holland Park’s promotional line for its double bill, which prefaces Leoncavallo’s familiar Pagliacci with a relatively rarely seen work, Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto…
A cheerful and entertaining performance of Verdi’s late comedy amidst the sylvan magic of West Green
The opera at West Green is back in the ‘green theatre’, rather than open air on the lake, but opened up at the back so that the house itself forms…
Pelléas et Mélisande at Munich
Nine years ago, in this same theatre at this same festival, I saw Munich’s previous Pelléas et Mélisande: a staging by Christiane Pohle which I greatly admired, but everyone else…
Unalloyed delight: Handel’s Acis and Galatea at Holland Park
This seems to be quite the year for Opera Holland Park: A revelatory Puccini Edgar, a powerful coupling of Wolf-Ferrari (Il segreto di Susanna) and Leoncavallo (Pagliacci), and now the…
DMMO: Best. Barber. Ever.
From the dancing light show during the sprightly overture to the closing precision of the flamenco-disco ensemble moves and every moment in between, Des Moines Metro Opera’s The Barber of…
Des Moines: Apollo’s Bare Body and Bared Souls
Des Moines Metro Opera’s World Premiere of Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s American Apollo could hardly have been more of an “occasion.” This intriguing musical exploration of the artistic and…