Opera Reviews
Flight, Opera Holland ParkThursday, 11 June 2015
Connections are missed and made in Jonathan Dove’s Flight – a giddy airport fantasy of what might be and what never was. Not yet 20 years old, this contemporary score is quite a departure from Opera Holland Park’s staple fare of well-aged verismo and bloodily rare Italian drama, but in a glossy new production by Stephen Barlow it pulses with all the same urgency and human interest – and not a suicide/secret pregnancy/long-lost parent in sight. Read more... |
A Country Doctor, Phaedra, Guildhall School of Music and DramaWednesday, 10 June 2015
Of the two works by Hans Werner Henze on this curious if ultimately satisfying double-bill, neither quite answers to the name of opera. Read more... |
Intermezzo, Garsington OperaSunday, 07 June 2015
In a curious deal, two operatic card games were running almost simultaneously last night. Read more... |
The Queen of Spades, English National OperaSunday, 07 June 2015
The delicacy of its supernatural elements make Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades, as adapted by Tchaikovsky, a tricky proposition for any director. Do you go with the ghost story and risk losing your audience emotionally, or do you play it straight, trying to rationalise the plot’s moments of macabre? The hands of the clock stand perpetually arrested just moments before midnight in David Alden’s new production for ENO, putting his audience out of any doubt as to which he has chosen. Read more... |
Fiddler on the Roof, Grange Park OperaFriday, 05 June 2015
Many matches are made in Fiddler on the Roof but the matchmaking prize goes to Grange Park Opera for getting Bryn Terfel to take on the role of Tevye. Having only recently played Sweeney Todd, and indeed throughout a varied career, Terfel has proved that he can treat lighter music with respect and sincerity, not to mention plenty of good humour. Read more... |
Pelléas et Mélisande, Welsh National OperaSaturday, 30 May 2015
Debussy completed only one opera (though he started plenty), but it’s the most perfect work imaginable, not only in sheer musical refinement and narrative precision, but in psychological penetration and above all in that exact grasp of the irrational nature of the medium that distinguishes the greatest operas from the merely effective. Read more... |
Carmen, Glyndebourne Festival OperaSunday, 24 May 2015
After Calixto Bieito’s radical reimaging of Carmen, which opened at English National Opera this week, David McVicar’s version at Glyndebourne was bound to seem conservative. But it turned out to be a comparison of apples and Seville oranges: Bieito is certainly bolder, but McVicar is more sophisticated and digs deeper into the raw emotions of the work. Read more... |
Poliuto, Glyndebourne Festival OperaFriday, 22 May 2015
Fashion is a funny thing, in opera no less than the sartorial trappings that go with it (everything from tight, hipster trews to billowing ballgowns at last night's Glyndebourne season opening, in case you were wondering). Donizetti's classical tragedy Poliuto is historically a miss rather than a hit, never quite finding its footing in the repertoire, despite some early success. Read more... |
Carmen, English National OperaThursday, 21 May 2015
Crotch-grabbing, suggestions of oral and anal sex, stylized punching and kicking and other casual violence offer diminishing returns in your standard Calixto Bieito production. Sometimes a scene or two flashes focused brilliance, which only makes you wonder why he doesn’t apply the same rigour throughout. Read more... |
Parsifal, CBSO, Nelsons, Symphony Hall, BirminghamTuesday, 19 May 2015
This was a very "concert" performance indeed. Across the stage music stands stood like sentinels lest any rash singer attempted to stand out and – surely not – act. Such fears were misplaced (or the stands did their job) in the end, as the music was what mattered and everyone stood and sang, with one outstanding exception, the Kundry of Mihoko Fujimura. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Donohoe, RPO, Brabbins, Cadogan Hall review - rarely heard B...
The name Arthur Bliss always summoned up for me the image of a fuddy-duddy old buffer writing boring music. But as I’ve discovered his work over...
Album: Gigspanner Big Band - Turnstone
For lovers of British folk from the 1970s on, Peter Knight is a potent force – renowned for his years with Steeleye Span, in their 1970s heyday...
All the Happy Things, Soho Theatre review - deep feelings, b...
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Or words to that effect. This quote from Milton’s ...
London Choral Sinfonia, Waldron, Smith Square Hall review -...
The London Choral Sinfonia are a very impressive group, a professional choir who are churning out terrific recordings at a breakneck pace – I...
The Forsythe Programme, English National Ballet review - bra...
It’s hard to think of anyone even half as persistent as William Forsythe in changing the conversation around ballet. The American...
Manic Street Preachers, Barrowland, Glasgow review - elder s...
As you might expect from a Manic Street Preachers gig, literary influences were never far away. A DH Lawrence quote was prominently displayed on...
DVD/Blu-ray: In a Year of 13 Moons
A longshot of transgender Elvira (Volker Spengler) circled by gay men, assignation turning to assault as dawn mist rises from Frankfurt’s Main...
Your Friends & Neighbors, Apple TV+ review - in every dr...
It had begun to seem that Jon Hamm, whatever other roles he might appear in, was destined to be forever remembered exclusively as Mad Men...