Author: Mike Smith
One heck of a trip, Janáček’s The Excursions of Mr Brouček
Never shy from letting his imagination run riot on the opera stage, David Pountney and his design team have created a zany and witty production with plenty of contemporary references. It is a pity the Dominic Raab and Angela Rayner snob opera spat (wink and all) had not happened while the show was being put…
A sublime Otello at Grange Park Opera
The dark side dominates in David Alden’s sombre Otello for Grange Park Opera. While the tragedy is Otello and Desdemona, the focus of this production is not only how Iago brings about the fatal suspicion, but sadistically enjoys watching the pain he brings about. Yes, with his seductive and glowing baritone Simon Keenlyside excelled as…
An exquisite Die Tote Stadt, Longborough Festival Opera
Loughborough Festival has scored a glorious success with this exquisite and moving production from Carmen Jakobi of the until recently long-neglected Die Tote Stadt. With central performances of extraordinary power and beauty, this telling of Korngold’s 1920 opera relies on compelling acting and singing from Peter Auty as Paul, who is locked in a world…
A more Kardashian than Kalashnikov Tamerlano, Grange Festival
Handel’s Tamerlano gets a contemporary setting in The Grange Festival’s take on the 15th century story of the defeated Ottoman ruler Bajazet who chooses death over submission to the great Mongol conqueror.It takes rather a long time to get there and when it does is rather sudden, which is all the more surprising when the…
A weird and wonderful Macbeth, Grange Festival
Directed and choreographed by Maxine Braham, this production of Verdi’s Macbeth opened with one of the fantastical spirits poking her head through the curtains and giving the audience a “once-over”, which set the approach to this dark tale.The designs by Madeleine Boyd, lit by Matt Haskins, sets the Scottish Play in the world of books,…
Northern Ireland Opera La Traviata cast
Northern Ireland Opera has announced the main cast for the company’s new adaptation of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, directed by Artistic Director Cameron Menzies, opening at Belfast’s Grand Opera House this September. Tenor Noah Stewart and Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Yurchuk return to the company, having starred in the site-specific production of La Bohéme, as Alfredo…
Kirklees Concert Season 2022-23 announced
Opera North and Kirklees Council have announced the Kirklees Concert Season 2022-23, leading into Kirklees Year of Music 2023 with an all-embracing programme featuring orchestral masterpieces, international guest conductors and soloists, the opening night of the latest of Opera North’s famed concert stagings, lunchtime organ recitals, seasonal favourites for Christmas and New Year, traditional Indian…
A psychological journey into Onegin at Opera Holland Park
It is often said that this opera could, perhaps should, be called Tatyana rather than Onegin as she is in many ways the more central (and interesting) of the characters. It is both a strength and weakness of Julia Burbach’s direction that the title character is not only on stage far more than the opera…
A sunny seaside Cosi fan tutte at Garsington Opera
I am not certain I understood the closing of John Cox’s 2004 staging of Cosi fan tutte, revived with a splendid cast at Garsington Opera this season, as the two “soldiers” leave their lovers and head off to war. Have they decided that women really are all the same and they are better off with…
An Arcadian idyll: Orfeo at Garsington Opera
One of the many delights of Garsington Opera is how the glass walls of the pavilion allow for the “action” to begin and continue beyond the actual stage and auditorium. Being set in the exquisite Wormsley Estate, itself an Arcadian idyll, this is wonderfully appropriate for the first act of John Caird’s charming production of…