Mainly Opera and Ballet
This was a musical treat under the baton of Tomáš Hanus, who is sadly leaving the WNO after ten years. He fully brought out the energy and inspiration that Wagner put into this work — the first of his extraordinary music dramas — which changed the face of opera. See my review in The Article.
This was my first encounter with the Hamlet of French composer Ambroise Thomas, and very moving it was. The Festival also performed a brief seventeenth opera, Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers, plus four short operas, two of which were interesting — see my review in The Article.
An excellent production of Tchaikovsky’s opera, set in the time of Catherine the Great, was beautifully staged. Such a pleasant relief to see it set in the correct period, and without altering the story. My review in The Article.
In 65 years of UCL Opera productions this is the first work of Bach, the ‘English’ Bach — Johann Christian (1735–1782) — a son of Johann Sebastian by his second marriage. His three-act libretto was based on an earlier five-act one by Philippe Quinault for the French composer Lully, which in turn was based on …
