Mainly Opera and Ballet
This was the third instalment of Barrie Kosky’s new Ring for The Royal Opera. It’s an opera that can drag a bit in Act I, but under the baton of Antonio Pappano and the stage direction of Barrie Kosky there was never a dull moment. Added to this, Andreas Schager was superb in the title …
Musically this was outstanding under the baton of Antonio Pappano, who has just been made the Royal Opera’s first Conductor Laureate. The singing was excellent all round, and the only thing to mar one’s enjoyment was Barrie Kosky’s production with its obsession in having a naked Erda on stage for most of the time — …
Wagner’s Flying Dutchman is the first opera in his canon of ten mature works. He claims it was based on a novella by Heinrich Heine, but there is more to the story than that, and this excellent production was made musically gripping under the baton of Hungarian conductor Henrik Nánási, with singers on top form. See …
