Mainly Opera and Ballet
In her new production of Peter Grimes Deborah Warner brought the setting up to date with detritus on the beach and yobbos threatening Ellen Orford. As Grimes himself Allan Clayton was outstanding, rough and ready but with mental issues in Warner’s sympathetic portrayal. Excellent contributions from Bryn Terfel as Captain Balstrode, and John Tomlinson as Swallow …
Janaček’s music elevates this tragic to a gripping intensity, given terrific effect under the baton of WNO’s music director Tomaš Hanus, who is Czech, and in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine he spoke to the audience before the performance saying, “Let’s play today for humanity”. The orchestra responded with huge emotion and energy, …
Welsh National Opera revived their excellent 2011 staging with a cast whose vocal abilities superbly matched the needs of Mozart’s opera. It was as near perfect a performance as one could wish in a production that eschewed over-clever ideas, and was well worth the trip to Cardiff — my review in The Article.
In the Royal Ballet’s 2018 production of Swan Lake the evil Von Rothbart appears in two guises, one as the sorcerer who has turned young maidens into swans, the other at court as the queen’s confidant, looking very much like a younger version of Vladimir Putin. This invites comparisons with Russian history — see my review …
