Author: Mike Smith
Hotel Metamorphosis, Salzburg Festival
**** We were advised Cecilia Bartoli was suffering from a cold but would perform. Phew! Cold aside, the soprano gave an exquisite performance in Barrie Kosky’s three-hour pasticcio, Hotel Metamorphosis. Her performance was central to the success of this show that braids Vivaldi’s arias and music with famous selections from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The scenes enabled…
Pathos and hilarity meet at IF Opera’s new home.
IF Opera – Rigoletto & Orpheus in the Underworld, Church Farm, 2025 IF Opera’s move from the stately lawns of Belcombe Court to the working idyll of Church Farm has brought with it a pleasing blend of rustic charm and artistic ambition – plus the novelty of rescue donkeys grazing contentedly in the neighbouring field…
A shocking Lohengrin saved by glorious singing and fabulous conducting, Bayreuth Festival
*** Some productions jolt you like a live cable. Unfortunately, the thematic current running through Yuval Sharon’s Lohengrin at Bayreuth wasn’t the thrilling charge of Wagner’s drama—it was the sort of shock that a concept can be so overdone, leaving your battery flat. Elza van den Heever , Piotr Beczała Staged in 2018 but revived…
A laughing cow and glorious musicianship, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Bayreuth Festival
***** Wagner is not often associated with levity, but Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg remains his great comic outlier: a sprawling, richly textured celebration of art, tradition, and renewal. That didn’t stop director Matthias Davids from turning it into something resembling an agricultural show —complete with hay bales, Merkel look-alikes, and, in Act III, a giant…
Leading Wagnerian Paul Carey Jones on role debuts
“Never do anything for the first time.” So the old saying goes in the opera business. This deliberate paradox contains a hard truth: making any sort of debut is a challenge. And in particular, performing a major operatic role for the first time is fraught with unforeseen dangers. So, for any young singer contemplating making…
A celebratory evening with Dido and Aeneas, Longborough Festival Opera
*** From the moment the audience entered the auditorium for the company’s Emerging Artists production this was clearly going to be a fun evening, even if the story is, of course, one of great tragedy. Musicians from the early music ensemble Barokksolistene walked up and down the side aisles, playing their instruments, and chatting with…
Fallen women: Cavalleria rusticana and Suor Angelica, Dorset Festival Opera
**** The double bill of one act operas is given a linked theme of fallen women through a clever inclusion of the nun as young girl and her lover making a making a brief appearance in Cavalleria rusticana, presumably before her convent days in Suor Angelica. Paul Carr’s direction also has nuns in the Sicilian…
A speakeasy Rigoletto at Dorset Opera Festival
**** Dorset Opera performing at the Coade Theatre at Bryanston School is more than an offering of good quality musical theatre. It is a showcase of some very strong professional singers and for the young people who have taken part in the summer school at the Blandford Forum. The combination is exhilarating. For this production…
Waterperry Opera Festival appoints John Savournin as new CEO and Artistic Director
John Savournin has been appointed as CEO and Artistic Director Waterperry Opera Festival. Chair of the Board, Judith Tew, said, “John brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and energy toWaterperry to lead the next phase of our rapid growth as a festival and a developer of the next generationof talent in opera. He is passionate…
Elegant Bellini at West Green House Opera
**** While musicianship and artistry remain the most essential elements of any opera experience, the importance of ambiance and the pleasure of the venue cannot be denied. West Green House Opera combines superb performances by both young and seasoned singers, a commitment to musical excellence from its players, and an idyllic setting in a Hampshire…