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,…
Tag: Opera Holland Park
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…
Opera Holland Park releases a new online production of William Walton’s The Bear
“If there’s going to be equality between the sexes, then let us have it!” An angry creditor, a reclusive widow, a loyal servant and a pair of pistols are the…
British Youth Opera: a superb cast shine in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro
Rossini’s libretti often require one to leave logic at the theatre entrance and embrace the absurd – stock buffa characters, stolen and switched identities, arranged marriages, double nuptials, an inevitable…
Cheery charm in Opera Holland Park’s The Pirates of Penzance
Oh, is there not one maiden breastWhich does not feel the moral beautyOf making worldly interestSubordinate to sense of duty? ‘The Slave of Duty’ is the subtitle of Gilbert and…
Quiet charm at Opera Holland Park: Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz
‘So, we grew together,Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,But yet an union in partition,Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.’ I don’t know if Mascagni knew his Shakespeare, but…
Opera Holland Park’s 2022 Season: the continuing evolution of London’s greenest theatre
In 2021 Opera Holland Park unveiled a reimagined auditorium and performance space to reflect the natural beauty of the theatre’s setting and to allow for social distancing. Constructed from reclaimed…