Opera Holland Park
In defence of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Grand Duke
Artistic partnerships are elusive things. The best – where two creative personalities somehow inspire or goad each other to do…
Forget the Proms and Edinburgh – the Three Choirs Festival is where it’s at
The Proms have started but there is a world elsewhere, and in Worcester Cathedral the 296th Three Choirs Festival set…
Sparky and often hilarious: Garsington’s Un giorno di regno reviewed
Hang out with both trainspotters and opera buffs and you’ll soon notice that opera buffs are by far the more…
Pure Puccini: an opera lover’s melodramatic family history
Flamboyant theatrics were part of Michael Volpe’s life as CEO of Opera Holland Park. But those of his feuding Italian relatives rival anything seen on stage
Imagine a school concert hosted by Bela Lugosi: Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivan Fischer, at the Proms, reviewed
‘Audience Choice’ was the promise at the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s Sunday matinee Prom, and come on – who could resist…
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…
Ecstasy from Birmingham Opera Company: Wagner's RhineGold reviewed
At the end of Birmingham Opera Company’s RhineGold, as the gods stood ready to enter Valhalla, Donner swung a baseball…
Springtime for Putin: Grange Park's The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko reviewed
Alexander Litvinenko lies in a London hospital, dying of polonium poisoning. That photograph from 2006 haunts the memory: the medical…
Lush, elegant and vivid: Der Rosenkavalier at Garsington reviewed
At the turning point of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Der Rosenkavalier, all the clocks stop. Octavian has arrived…
The joy of going to a real concert: OHP's Heart of Delight reviewed
I went to a concert! Not a livestream or download: a real concert, with real musicians, a real conductor, a…
It’s not fair – I liked Il segreto di Susanna before it was cool: OHP’s double bill reviewed
Should a secret pleasure ever be shared? Spoiler alert: Susanna’s secret, unknown to her husband Gil, is that she smokes.…
An overcooked blowout: Glyndebourne’s Die Zauberflöte reviewed
Think back to when you were 12, and the sensation of re-opening your favourite book. (This is The Spectator; I’m…
Thrilling energy & humour from Longborough Festival Opera: Ariadne auf Naxos reviewed
‘They’ve dined well, they’ve drunk their fill, their brains are dull and slow. They’ll sit snoozing in the dark until…
An embarrassing and misshapen dud: Opera Holland Park’s Isabeau reviewed
I’ve been trying to pinpoint the exact moment when it became impossible to take Mascagni’s Isabeau seriously. It wasn’t when…
Strong stuff
The strings sweep upwards, the horns surge, and Leoncavallo’s Zaza throws itself into your arms. We don’t know it yet,…
Delibes’ Lakmé at Holland Park is visually soporific, but the singing keeps Geoff Brown awake
These are nervous times at the opera. When should we expect the gratuitous rape scene? Will the director relocate the…
I can’t see the point of Glyndebourne’s La traviata
One of the highlights of last year’s Glyndebourne Festival was the revival of Richard Jones’s Falstaff, spruced up and invigorated…
