Opera
Wagner rewilded: Das Rheingold, at the Royal Opera House, reviewed
In Northern Ireland Opera’s new Tosca, the curtain rises on a big concrete dish from which a pair of eyes…
An absolute romp framed by dutiful tut-tutting: Semele at Glyndebourne reviewed
If directors will insist on staging Handel oratorios as if they’re operas, it makes sense to pick Semele, which is…
The future of opera – I hope: WNO’s Candide reviewed
Bernstein’s Candide is the operetta that ought to work, but never quite does. Voltaire’s featherlight cakewalk through human misery, set…
Was Vera Brittain really this insufferable? Buxton Festival’s The Land of Might-Have-Been reviewed
‘Ring out your bells for me, ivory keys! Weave out your spell for me, orchestra please!’ It’s lush stuff, the…
Featherweight fun: La Cenerentola, at Nevill Holt Opera, reviewed
‘Goodness Triumphant’ is the subtitle of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and you’d better believe he delivers. It’s the sweetest thing imaginable;…
Taut as a drumskin: Dialogues des Carmélites, at Glyndebourne, reviewed
The three Just Stop Oil protestors were sitting in the stalls, somewhere near the middle of the front row. Someone…
To die for: Grange Park Opera’s Tristan & Isolde reviewed
There are a lot of corpses on stage at the end of Charles Edwards’s production of Tristan & Isolde for…
The final scenes are a knockout: Glyndebourne’s Don Giovanni reviewed
Are you supposed to laugh at the end of Don Giovanni? Audiences often do, and they did at the end…
WNO sinks an unsinkable opera: The Magic Flute, at Birmingham Hippodrome, reviewed
As stage directions go, the The Magic Flute opens with a zinger. ‘Tamino enters from the right wearing a splendid…
Dramatically powerful and sonically beguiling: Innocence, at the Royal Opera House, reviewed
Plus: a striking production of an operatic dud at ENO
The opera’s a masterpiece but the production doesn’t quite come off: ENO’s The Dead City reviewed
English National Opera has arrived at the Dead City, and who, before Christmas, would have given odds that this new…
Electrifying: London Handel Festival’s In the Realms of Sorrow, at Stone Nest, reviewed
Hector Berlioz dismissed Handel as ‘that tub of pork and beer’ but it wasn’t always like that. Picture a younger,…
Revival of the fittest
Opera North has begun 2023 with a couple of big revivals, and it’s always rewarding to call in on these…
The sonic equivalent of a Starbucks Eggnog Latte: ENO’s It’s a Wonderful Life reviewed
Whoosh! A digital starburst, a sweep of orchestral sound and the stage of the Coliseum is alive with dancing, whirling…
A towering achievement: ENO’s The Yeomen of the Guard reviewed
The screw may twist and the rack may turn: the Tower of London, in Jo Davies’s new production of The…
Bold, self-assured reimagining of Monteverdi: Opera North's Orpheus reviewed
You wouldn’t like Tamerlano when he’s angry. ‘My heart seethes with rage,’ he sings, in Act III of Handel’s opera…
More depravity, please: Salome, at the Royal Opera House, reviewed
The first night of the new season at Covent Garden was cancelled when the solemn news came through. The second…
An electrifying, immersive thrill: Scottish Opera's Candide reviewed
The first part of the adventure was getting there. Out of the subway, past the tower blocks and under the…
Convincing performances and unexpected sounds: Opera Holland Park's Delius/Puccini double bill reviewed
Delius and Puccini: how’s that for an operatic odd couple? Delius, that most faded of British masters, now remembered largely…
With everything working properly, this would have been a lot of fun: Grange Park's La Gioconda reviewed
There are composers who are known for a single opera, and there are operas that are known for only a…
Had the air of a Blue Peter Christmas special: Grange Festival's The Yeomen of the Guard reviewed
The Yeomen of the Guard has been called the ‘English Meistersinger’ but the more you think about that, the dafter…
