The operas for Garsington Opera’s 2026 Festival, which will run from Wednesday 27 May – Saturday 25 July 2026: Verdi’s La traviata, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse, and Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest. La traviataGiuseppe Verdi Conductor – Douglas BoydDirector – Louisa Muller Der RosenkavalierRichard Strauss Conductor – Finnegan Downie DearDirector – Bruno Ravella Il ritorno d’UlisseClaudio Monteverdi Conductor – Laurence CummingsDirector –…
Garsington Opera **** This is a superbly sung Handel, the drama full of fire, with the complicated baroque story given a clean and stylised theatrical telling. Rodelinda may be a tangled tapestry of dynastic plots, romantic fidelity, and moral reckonings, but at Garsington this summer, the ensemble of exquisite voices cut through the intrigue with…
*** The audience showed itself very enthusiastic for director Bintou Dembélé‘s dance troupe’s hip-hop, whooping, and jumping, swirling and twirling, at the curtain call of this first UK staging of Rameau’s Les Indes galantes. This ‘choreographed concert’ performance has developed from a staged production at the Opéra de Paris back in 2019 and has whooped…
It’s a scenario many older siblings might dread; after years of being big brother, finding yourself on the receiving end of being told what to do — by your younger brother. But this isn’t a story about childhood rivalries – it is far, far more dramatic. This is opera. Well, it is really life and…
**** 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,…
*** 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…
*** 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…
*** 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…
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…
**** 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…
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