As one might imagine, our plans for major productions to mark the 75 years have been shelved. We have, however, created two short films to mark the occasion. We commissioned a poem by Ifor ap Glyn, the National Poet of Wales, called Intermezzo, and this is performed by a distinguished cast of Welsh luminaries in…
Adversity sometimes brings unexpected opportunity. In this case the requirements of social distancing was overcome by Opera Holland Park by borrowing free standing chairs from other companies and creating a very relaxed, informal setting for the audience to enjoy the Young Artists’ performance of Figaro. Of course, it means far smaller audiences than usual but…
Michael Boyd’s production makes excellent use of the glass pavilion at Garsington with peasants visible as they approach the stage and similarly the pairs of lovers (or not lovers in Onegin and Tatyana’s case) walking around the outside of the auditorium. However, it was distracting having some scenes overshadowed by unnecessary although stylish additions such…
It would have probably been too obvious to cast Don Alfonso as a ring master in the big top seeing we were indeed watching and listening to Cosi in a circus tent at Longborough Festival Opera. Instead, he is a card shark, playing on Guglielomo and Ferrando presumably slightly nouveau twit gullibility to firstly part…
David Pountney production of Ivan the Terrible for Grange Park Opera is an uncharacteristically sedate affair, lacking in the excesses of violence or sex, psychological acrobatics or quirkiness – and for once it could actually have done with some of this. With the pretty obvious exception of making Ivan the Terrible a Stalin figure (some may…
This glorious production of Handel’s Amadigi is both a splendid, spirits (literally) raising experience and why our independent festivals are the shining stars of opera as they have struggled and overcome Covid restrictions. While most of our state funded opera houses and arts companies remained the domain of tumbleweed, Garsington and others have kept opera…
The prospect of WNO staging Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes is an exciting one. The last time it was performed by WNO was in 1954. Further, this staging (a joint production with Theater Bonn) is of the French grand opéra version, the full five acts sung in French with the ballet section included, not the revised…
This revived production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen is another triumph for WNO. Born in Moravia in 1854 it was only in 1924 that Janáček first staged his opera. Inspired by the illustrated tales of ‘Vixen Sharp-Ears’ the opera tells the story of the life and death of the Vixen, captured by the Forester…
This production of Verdi’s Rigoletto is a winning return to form for WNO. The story of the jester Rigoletto’s attempted revenge on his master the Duke for the seduction of his daughter Gilda, the action is transposed to Washington DC in the sixties, evoked by the costumes and design, such as Gilda’s hairband and bobby…
My opera education continues in the capable hands of Welsh National Opera with Guiseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, only my third WNO production. Riccardo (Gwyn Hughes Jones) is a leader who has stepped on too many toes, collecting a few enemies hell bent on revenge for the wrongs they feel he has done…
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