Tag Archives: Wolf-Ferrari

Il segreto di Susannah, and I pagliacci, Holland Park Opera, July 2024

In this excellent double bill the lightness of Wolf-Ferrari’s I segreto di Susannah (the secret is she smokes) was followed by the disturbing emotions displayed in Leoncavallo’s opera about a troupe of actors, brilliantly conducted and performed at OHP. See my review in The Article.

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Double Bill: Il Segreto di Susanna/ Iolanta, Opera Holland Park, July 2019

Wolf-Ferrari’s delightful comedy, Il Segreto di Susanna under the baton of John Andrews formed a delightful prelude to Tchaikovsky’s final opera Iolanta, conducted by Sian Edwards. This was a revelation in Olivia Fuchs’ excellent production and Sian Edwards’ sensitive conducting that really drew forth the emotional pull of the music that Tchaikovsky created to embody the …

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I Gioielli della Madonna, Opera Holland Park, OHP, July 2013

“There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu”, and the moral of the story is that if you steal jewels from a sacred idol, you will die, and the jewels will revert to their proper location. In that poem the jewel was stolen to satisfy the whim of a young woman, who rejected …

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