Reviews
A tale of Nordic revenge, Die fliegende Hollander, Bayreuth Festival
A Flying Dutchman without any ship let alone any sea? A retelling of Wagner’s tale as a son’s revenge on a community that had driven his mother to suicide? Another mother’s killing of a madman who has taken control of the mind of her own rather mad daughter? Well, a director can take his Der…
Theatrical genius, Tannhauser, Bayreuth Festival
How can it be that your preconceptions of a production based on just seeing some performance photography can get it all so, so wrong? Theoretically, this production of Tannhauser for Wagner’s Festspielhaus should have been just what I loathe in contemporary stagings: merging actual performance with live video and pre-recordings, waving wokism in your face,…
A doubly surreal Parsifal, Bayreuth Festival
This new Parsifal for Bayreuth was really two productions: one for the small number of us with Augmented Reality glasses and the second for the vast majority of the audience without. While the embracing of whatever technology enhanced his own work was a hallmark of Richard Wagner, I doubt if he would have enjoyed this…
Heavenly Dialogues des Carmelites, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall
**** There were two surprises for me at the beginning of Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites performed as a semi-staged concert as part of BBC Proms. The first was how many people had come to the still quite rarely performed opera. The second was the acoustics when Robin Ticciati conducting the…
Pedaloing the green dream, The Fairy Queen, Longborough Festival Opera
Longborough Opera’s commitment to new and emerging talent takes the form of a fun and lively reimagining of Purcell’s Fairy Queen and a wider theme of renewal, regeneration, rejuvenation and rebirth. This fits in well with the youthful nature (no pun intended) of the players and other creatives for this multileveled fusion of musical and…
Grand designs, Le roi de Lahore, Dorset Opera Festival
**** Theatrically voluptuous, picturesquely medieval Indian, director Ella Marchment’s take on the neglected Massenet work plays well to the strengths of Dorset Opera; a knock-out, strong chorus, fine young players and singers, with expert guidance. The opera’s fantastical story is another tale of the mercifuly gods allowing a betrayed dead lover return to his beloved…
Nothing sheepish about this dressing up box Il re pastore, Buxton International Festival
**** When our singers started jigging along at the end of Il re pastore, having told us the Greek army is camped nearby and the shepherd king was tending his sheep, I half expected the Brecon Beacons National Park police to rush in and arrest them all. The connection between young Mozart’s take on Alexander…
Charming and clever La Sonnambula, Buxton International Festival
***** Ellie Neate and cast of La Sonnambula As a newcomer to Buxton this was a joyful introduction to the International Festival and also the jewel of an opera house both of which demonstrated why this annual event has such a dedicated following and excellent reputation. Harry Fehr’s production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula is here…
Updated frivolity for L’Orfeo, Longborough Festival Opera
*** The staging of Longborough Festival Opera’s contrasts the playing of Monteverdi’s 1607 score by the Venetian Baroque period musicians of La Serenissima with a show that takes its theme from Glastonbury-style festivals and modern hospitals. So, in Olivia Fuchs production our Orfeo swaps his lyre for an electric guitar (fortunately it makes no sound)…
The Flying Dutchman, but not as you know it, OperaUpClose, Bristol
*** The cult quote: “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it”, may never have really featured in Star Trek. But “It’s Wagner, folks, but not as you know it” would certainly apply to Lucy Bradley’s reworking of The Flying Dutchman for OperaUpClose. Here performed at the probably too small Exhibition Hall, SS Great…