Tag Archives: Paul Curran

Bartered Bride, Garsington, July 2023

This opera from the later days of the Austrian Empire, written in the local vernacular of the Czech lands, is a romp. Rather than the Germanic influence of Austria however this has the flavour of Czech folk music. It should be played with complete passion, and under the excellent baton of Jac van Steen it …

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The Tsar’s Bride, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, April 2011

This is about love, jealousy, guilt and remorse — ideal material for opera — ostensibly set in the time of Ivan the Terrible (late Tudor period in England). The power of the oligarchs and the state security police (theoprichniki) is part of the story …

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