Month: June 2025
A mesmerising new production of Pelléas et Mélisande at Longborough Festival Opera
**** Much of the anticipation of the new production of Pelléas et Mélisande was based on how Anthony Negus would take his rightly loyal Wagner audience into Debussy’s world. The theatrical side of the show was always going to be secondary and this indeed proved to be the case. The minimalist Max Johns set design,…
Crowd pleasing Barber delights Longborough audiences
*** If you want a crowd pleaser of a show for a summer afternoon, Longborough’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) hits the spot. From its daft contemporary Max Johns’ Spanish setting, raucous translation and slapstick humour, this is fun all the way. We just have the staircase, balcony and outside area of…
Mazeppa, Grange Park Opera
*** Hold on tight, this is quite a ride. This is, to use a cliché, no picnic, despite the long supper interval at this Surrey opera festival. Rather, Grange Park Opera served up a gruesome feast of brutality and betrayal, with lashes of blazing vocal power, and theatrical ferocity. Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa (1883) is based on…
Madama Butterfly, Grange Opera
*** There is only one real test of a successful performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. That is whether you leave with a tear in your eye as no matter how much a director may wish to play with you intellectually, this is a work that must succeed emotionally. Yes, for some it is a difficult…
Cowbridge Music Festival 2025
Tickets are now on sale for Cowbridge Music Festival 2025, a celebration of Welsh talent, global voices, and new commissions. The festival take splaces between September 12 and 21 at venues across the Vale of Glamorgan town. The organisers promise this year will present an eclectic and vibrant line-up across ten days this September, blending…
Holland Park’s Wagnerian maiden voyage with The Flying Dutchman
**** Opera Holland Park’s choice of The Flying Dutchman for its first foray into the Wagnerian world (or cult) is both inspired and courageous. Inspired as it is Wagner’s most accessible opera (and short). Courageous as it demands vast amounts of drama, and much of that comes from the orchestra which has to be limited…