Opera
In defence of Puccini
During my opera-going lifetime the most sensational change in the repertoire has, of course, been the immense expansion of the…
Strauss and Hofmannsthal deserve better from the Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival’s reputation might largely be one of cultural conservatism, but it made an impressive commitment to new works…
Jonas Kaufmann's illness, a muddled production – nothing can stop Bavarian State Opera's La forza del destino
Rather than brave the boos and the first reprise of Frank Castorf’s half-hearted Ring at Bayreuth, I decided to pay…
In Norwich, a director is caught trying to murder Wagner’s Tannhäuser
Seventeen years ago the Norwegian National Opera staged two cycles of the Ring in Norwich’s Theatre Royal, performances that have…
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…
Buxton Festival sticks its neck out with two rarities by Dvorak and Gluck
Dvorak’s The Jacobin and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, the two operas that opened this year’s Buxton Festival, are both relative…
Royal Opera's Maria Stuarda: pathos and nobility from Joyce DiDonato, lazy nonsense from the directors
London is lucky to have heard Joyce DiDonato at the height of her powers in two consecutive seasons. The American…
Opera North's Götterdämerung is astounding (nearly)
It seems a very short time since I interviewed Richard Farnes about Opera North’s planned Ring cycle, the dramas to…
Manon Lescaut: Puccini’s Anna Nicole?
This season has already seen Manon Lescaut appear in several different operatic guises across the UK, but it was Covent…
Tilting at metronomes: Massenet's Don Quichotte opens at Grange Park Opera
To suggest that the ageing Jules Massenet identified himself with the title character of his Don Quichotte is nothing new…
Terry Gilliam turns to eye-watering excess for his staging of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini
Operas about artists are not rare. However — perhaps for obvious reasons — those artists tend to be musicians, singers,…
Dialogues des Carmélites brings out the best in Poulenc – and the Royal Opera House
Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites is an audacious work, much more so than many others that advertise their audacity. It deals…
WNO's production of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron is an overwhelming experience – but make sure you close your eyes
On paper, Moses und Aron might seem intractable and abstract: a 12-tone score setting a libretto that meditates on God,…
A Rosenkavalier without a heart ain’t much of a Rosenkavalier
In all its minute details, Der Rosenkavalier is rooted in a painstakingly stylised version of Rococo Vienna that, paradoxically, is…
Two Mimi-Rodolfos at Opera North who go from nought to frisky very believably
Purists might have winced at Opera North’s advertisement for its latest revival of La Bohème. ‘If you see one musical…
More woe for Oedipus
I had high hopes for Julian Anderson’s first opera, Thebans. Premièred at the Coliseum last Saturday, it promised to mark…
Khovanskygate is about the dreadfulness and possible glory of being Russian
Within the space of a few weeks we have had the rare chance of seeing the two great torsos of…
Britten’s worldwide reputation is enhanced in Lyon
One of the proudest boasts to come from Britten HQ in Aldeburgh during the composer’s anniversary last year was that…
Bryn Terfel lords it over 'Faust' magnificently
There’s a great deal to disapprove of in Gounod’s Faust. It breaks down a pillar of western literature and whisks…
Mixed results from the ENO and ROH in their seasonal away games
It’s been a spring tradition for several years now for English National Opera to present small-scale productions in various venues…
The snobbery and sweaty brows of watching opera in the cinema
I remain puzzled that, so far as I know, no daily or weekly paper carries reviews of the New York…
Handelian pleasures vs modern head-scratchers
Opera seems almost always to have been acutely concerned with its own future. These days this is most often manifested…
The Royal Opera House's Die Frau ohne Schatten – a dream solution to Strauss’s problem opera?
If ever an opera was weighed down by its creators’ joint ambition, it is Die Frau ohne Schatten. Richard Strauss…
Opera's fallen women
Opera’s grim fascination with ‘fallen women’ — as Welsh National Opera has called its latest mini-season — lies largely in…
ENO's Rodelinda: near-perfect singing, perfectly gimmicky direction
I wasn’t going to write about Handel’s Rodelinda, wasn’t even intending to go, but thanks to the kindness of the…
