The Elixir of Love, English National Opera, November 2024
November 21, 2024Quite why director Harry Fehr decided to update this opera to a 1960s television sitcom about the air war against Germany in World War Two I do not know, but the fact that the garish uniforms were the wrong colour blue might suggest this was very much tongue-in-the-cheek. Fine singing and conducting though — see …
Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Royal Opera, Nov 2024
November 9, 2024E. T. A. Hoffmann was an inspired writer of stories that melded fantasy and reality, and three in particular informed this opera by Offenbach. It is unquestionably the greatest work by this French master of operetta, and a new production at Covent Garden is hugely welcome — see my review in The Article.
Rigoletto, English National Opera, Oct 2024
November 1, 2024This production by the late Jonathan Miller is a classic, and congratulations to the ENO for putting it on with a splendid cast. Recent threats by the Arts Council notwithstanding, the ENO does a fine job of bringing people in to witness one of the great art forms, which is exactly what they should be …
The Turn of the Screw, English National Opera, Oct 2024
October 15, 2024This new production is by someone who has previously made her name as a stage designer, and I found the designs too clever by half. The key to this opera is ambiguity, but this was absent. The mystery of the story however was heard in the excellent performance of Britten’s music and the carefully crafted …
Eugene Onegin, Royal Opera, September 2024
October 1, 2024This was a new production featuring some excellent singing, particularly in the roles of Tatyana, Lensky and Prince Gremin, but the staging was very dull. A white stage with almost no props may emphasise the emptiness of Onegin’s life, but gives little to the audience — see my review in The Article.
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