HGO (formerly Hampstead Garden Opera) has been one of the musical heroes of the pandemic. Last year, it brought opera back to London with Holst’s Savītri; this year, it was…
Category: Staged Operas
Sharp slaps and pungent pyrotechnics: Glyndebourne’s Don Pasquale at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
There was pungent, post-explosion smoke in the Marlowe Theatre during the performance of Glyndebourne’s touring production of Don Pasquale, and it wasn’t all the result of the pyrotechnics with which…
A rake revived: Glyndebourne Tour at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
John Cox and David Hockney’s Glyndebourne production of The Rake’s Progress has proved one of the Festival’s most enduring successes, revived frequently in the Sussex theatre and in international houses…
A compelling Robert Devereux from Chelsea Opera Group at Cadogan Hall
In June 2019, the Australian soprano Helena Dix stepped into the royal shoes of Elizabeth I, replacing soprano Ina Schlingensiepen at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe in the third and final…
Vibrant visuals and fancy footwork: Cal McCrystal’s HMS Pinafore at English National Opera
The Modern Major-General may dismiss its whistled airs as “infernal nonsense”, but the songs of HMS Pinafore have lost none of their appeal during the near 150 years since Gilbert…
A standing ovation for Lisette Oropesa in the Royal Opera House’s revival of La traviata
Given the tubercular demise of Verdi’s tragic heroine, it’s tempting to describe the ROH’s latest reprise of Richard Eyre’s 1994 production of Verdi’s La traviata in pandemic terms – in…
Imaginative, daring, enterprising: Fulham Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena
Richard Strauss’ Die ägyptische Helena remains something of the ugly duckling amongst the operas he wrote with Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Premiered in Dresden in 1928, it has rarely been performed…
Giovanna d’Arco at Opera di Roma
The Opera di Roma opens its fall season this week with Giuseppe Verdi’s rarely-performed early work, Giovanna d’Arco. The Teatro Costanzi was sold out on Tuesday, for Italians now live…
Fidelio in San Francisco
A superb cast, a fine production, inspired conducting, classy orchestra and a classy chorus, a wired audience — it was Fidelio last night at the War Memorial Opera House. To…
Philip Glass’s Satyagraha still captivates at English National Opera
After an eighteen-month absence, at least at the Coliseum, English National Opera is back on home turf and marking its return to live performance with a reboot of Philip Glass’s…