Garsington
Il ritorno d’Ulisse, Garsington Opera at Wormsley
★★★★★ Il ritorno d’Ulisse is probably the hardest of Monteverdi’s surviving works to bring off on a contemporary stage. First heard during Venice’s 1639–40 carnival season, Ulisse is now called part of a trilogy of Monteverdi works, although that is only a modern term for what has survived. Ulisse, and Orefo which has already been…
Gorgeously sung, clean and stylised Rodelinda
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…
Opera brothers Jack and Sam Furness
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…
MidSummer Night’s Dream psychobabble at Garsington Opera
*** Psychobabble rather than magic takes over in Netia Jones’s new staging of the ever-popular Britten and Pears’s version of the Shakespeare play, and the result is a missed opportunity. Why so? Because the work is being staged at the fabulous Garsington Opera pavilion which is all glass and other directors have made great use…
Jack Furness to produce Rusalka at Garsington
Jack Furness is to take over from Michael Boyd to produce Garsington Opera’s 2022 Rusalka. Due to ill health, director Michael Boyd has had to withdraw from the production that was originally scheduled for summer 2020. Jack Furness will make his Garsington Opera debut. The production will have designs by Tom Piper. Douglas Boyd, Artistic…
Glorious singing in Onegin at Garsington
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…
Amadigi weaves modern magic at Garsington Opera
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…