Ruddigore at Opera Holland Park

Ruddigore has always had a problematic status in the G&S canon.  Following hot on the heels of The Mikado, its premiere in 1887 was met with catcalls and jeers.  Some…

Itch: a new opera by Jonathan Dove at Opera Holland Park

Simon Mayo’s book Itch was written, originally, for his science-loving son; two more books and a TV series later, Itch is now an opera by Jonathan Dove with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton based…

The bohemians go to the movies at Opera Holland Park

Giacomo Puccini’s operatic career, from the early 1890s to his death in 1924, roughly coincided with the emergence and early development of cinema and sound recording.  However, unlike many of…

Hansel & Gretel: Opera Holland Park Young Artists

One of the reasons why Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel remains such a popular staple in the opera house is that it combines a potent story with great tunes. Written before Freud, yet…

Rigoletto opens Opera Holland Park’s 2023 season

Director Cecilia Stinton sets out her stall in no uncertain terms during the overture to her new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto at Opera Holland Park.  As conductor Lee Reynolds whips…

Sir John in Love: Vaughan Williams’ opera is presented with wit, charm and affection by British Youth Opera

Of Shakespeare’s characters, only Sir John Falstaff has inspired so many operas.  Alongside accounts of his amorous adventures by Salieri, Nicolai, Balfe, Verdi and Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ four-act comedy,…

Smooth sailing on H.M.S. Pinafore at Opera Holland Park

With the ‘good ship’ Britannia heading straight towards political and economic icebergs that are all too visible, Opera Holland Park’s offer of smoothing sailing aboard H.M.S. Pinafore, with John Savournin…

A rare double bill of Delius and Puccini: moving melodrama from Opera Holland Park

Opera Holland Park has a tradition of bringing little-known verismo operas into the light and making them shine.  In recent years, the company has excelled with stagings of Mascagni’s Iris…

Georges Bizet’s Carmen at Opera Holland Park

Carmen was the last opera I saw before the end of the world.  Not necessarily what I would have chosen; for many of my friends it was Fidelio, whose absence…

Missed chances and haunting memories: Eugene Onegin at Opera Holland Park

If the first night of Julia Burbach’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Opera Holland Park marked the start of London’s summer opera season, it certainly didn’t mark the start…