Opera Scene

11/08/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVspeqNnoWM

26/06/2024

Keep checking operascene.co.uk for the summer season reviews aee

Reviews, news, interviews from the opera world

22/04/2024

https://www.asiw.co.uk/reviews/welsh-national-opera-peace-and-passion-wales-millennium-centre

  ★★★     It could not have been more apt for this concert that Mozart was struggling to make...

20/04/2023

Gawld

17/06/2022

Lots of new reviews on operascene.co.uk as the summer festivals get underway and lots more to come

Reviews, news, interviews from the opera world

30/12/2021

It is a very long way between lockdown in Cardiff and rehearsing in Texas for the opening of Houston Grand Opera Dialogue of the Carmelites in Texas. For soprano Natalya Romaniw that journey, from the cancellation mid run of Madam Butterfly at English National Opera in 2020 to February 2022’s opening of the Poulenc opera, has been more than resuming what was a career already in the ascendancy....

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/natalya-romaniw-can-tell-houston-that-having-survived-covid-and-lockdown-there-isnt-a-problem/

It is a very long way between lockdown in Cardiff and rehearsing in Texas for the opening of Houston Grand Opera Dialogue of the Carmelites in Texas. For soprano Natalya Romaniw that journey, from …

27/12/2021

Evening light

22/12/2021

Please subscribe (it is free) to get alerts to our latest posts

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/1701/

Visit the post for more.

08/12/2021

Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Harry Sever as its first Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow. Harry will work alongside Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus for the next three seasons, building towards its 2024 Ring cycle. For his first performance in the post, Harry will conduct Siegfried at Longborough on Friday 3 June 2022. Anthony will conduct on 30 May, 1, 5, and 7 June....

https://operascene.co.uk/news/longboroughs-inaugural-ring-cycle-conducting-fellow/

Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Harry Sever as its first Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow. Harry will work alongside Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus for the next…

21/11/2021

HMS Pinafore at English National Opera is a joyous entertainment that revels in the humour while ensuring the highest standards of musicianship. It is, shock horror, enjoyable. Yet it is a mark of our strange times when performing Gilbert and Sullivan seems quite brave and some companies would fret themselves onto a woke apoplexy performing an opera based in imperial times with a naval theme and, while admittedly taking the mickey out of too much flag waving, wasn’t turned into a vehicle of self-loathing....

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/a-large-tot-of-happiness-from-enos-pinafore/

HMS Pinafore at English National Opera is a joyous entertainment that revels in the humour while ensuring the highest standards of musicianship. It is, shock horror, enjoyable. Yet it is a mark of …

16/11/2021

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 Director, said, “Michael is a wonderful artist, colleague and friend and we all send him our love and wish him a speedy recovery....

https://operascene.co.uk/news/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…

16/11/2021

Questions of power and identity, love and loss, will be coming to theatres across the North of England in the new year as Opera North opens its winter season with two new productions, while also offering another chance to see its new production of Carmen which premiered in September. The Company’s eagerly-awaited concert staging of Wagner’s Parsifal follows in June, with newly announced dates at Sage Gateshead and the Southbank Centre, London....

https://operascene.co.uk/news/opera-north-announces-winter-season/

Questions of power and identity, love and loss, will be coming to theatres across the North of England in the new year as Opera North opens its winter season with two new productions, while also of…

01/11/2021

Opera Holland Park's production of William Walton's take on the Chekhov comedy The Bear is being screened online during November on a "pay what you feel" basis. Filmed and recorded live on location in Stone House over two days in April 2021, Walton’s witty one-act opera reunites the cast and creative team of Opera Holland Park’s 2019 production of Il segreto di Susanna....

https://operascene.co.uk/news/opera-holland-park-unleashes-the-bear/

Opera Holland Park’s production of William Walton’s take on the Chekhov comedy The Bear is being screened online during November on a “pay what you feel” basis. Filmed and r…

27/10/2021

Longborough Festival Opera continues its Wagner voyage with Siegfried opening its 2022 season. Other works are Korngold Die tote Stadt, Bizet's Carmen and a double bill of Waley-Cohen's Spell Book and Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina. The new Ring cycle began with critically acclaimed performances of Das Rheingold in 2019 and a concert staging of Die Walküre in 2021....

https://operascene.co.uk/news/longborough-announces-details-of-2022-season/

Longborough Festival Opera continues its Wagner voyage with Siegfried opening its 2022 season. Other works are Korngold Die tote Stadt, Bizet’s Carmen and a double bill of Waley-Cohen’s…

21/10/2021

Opera North has appointed David Collins to the new role of Executive Director / Deputy CEO. The Company said its artistic, education and community work has grown exponentially over the last five years, and continues to develop in scope, ambition and diversity. The new role of Executive Director/ Deputy CEO reflects and supports this expansion, and will align key areas of audience development, marketing and digital with business and commercial functions including finance, business planning, operations, HR and hospitality …...

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/david-collins-appointed-opera-north-executive-director-deputy-ceo/

Opera North has appointed David Collins to the new role of Executive Director / Deputy CEO.  The Company said its artistic, education and community work has grown exponentially over the l…

19/10/2021

It may sound like sacrilege to make a negative comment about Philip Glass’ Satyagraha but while this remains a glorious piece of music and stunning theatricality in the Phelim McDermott staging, the 40 plus year old opera seems dated. First staged by English National Opera in 2007 this was a hugely popular work to reopen after Covid but the cynic in me did slightly wonder if some of the audience were applauding what the opera is about rather than the actual performance....

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/satyagraha-gorgeous-but-a-little-of-its-time/

It may sound like sacrilege to make a negative comment about Philip Glass’ Satyagraha but while this remains a glorious piece of music and stunning theatricality in the Phelim McDermott staging, th…

15/10/2021

The audiences for WNO's current season in the UK might be pretty thin on the ground but there should be no such problem with the company's collaboration with the United Arab Emirates on Al Wasl Opera, part of Expo 2020 Dubai. Tickets for Expo 2020 Dubai’s Al Wasl Opera that aims to celebrate thousands of years of UAE history, its achievements to date and its aspirations for the future, are now on sale directly from Dubai Opera, where the show will be performed, for its premiere run from 16-19 December....

https://operascene.co.uk/news/wno-storms-into-the-desert-for-expo-dubai-2020/

The audiences for WNO’s current season in the UK might be pretty thin on the ground but there should be no  such problem with the company’s collaboration with the United Arab Emira…

13/10/2021

Mid Wales Opera’s touring production of Puccini’s Il tabarro demonstrates that this is a company with more sense than money which necessitates proof that less is often more. Here the evidence is abundant. The set is the deck of a working barge, owned by a hardworking dour husband Michelle and his clearly miserable wife Giorgetta, which is tied up for the night on the banks of the Seine....

https://operascene.co.uk/reviews/no-need-for-laying-it-on-with-a-trowel-with-this-clean-if-grubby-il-tabarro-from-mid-wales-opera/

Mid Wales Opera’s touring production of Puccini’s Il tabarro demonstrates that this is a company with more sense than money which necessitates proof that less is often more. Here the evidence is ab…

30/09/2021

MS: You have had, and continue to have, a strong association with Wales. How did they come about and develop? NL: My first singing teacher as an adult was a Welsh baritone Jason Shute (originally from Swansea) who had emigrated to Australia with his wife. I met him through my involvement in the annual Adelaide Eisteddfod. He helped further my interest in singing professionally, peaked my interest in Wales as a country, particularly in the music making, introduced me to some great repertoire and suggested some contacts I could make when I moved to the UK....

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/nicholas-lester-from-adelaide-to-figaro-via-amazon/

MS: You have had, and continue to have, a strong association with Wales. How did they come about and develop? NL: My first singing teacher as an adult was a Welsh baritone Jason Shute (originally f…

30/09/2021

The auditorium might have been extremely lightly populated but those who had come along to see the show, masked or unmasked such is the confusing state of affairs in Wales, enjoyed a rare treat - an enjoyable production from Welsh National Opera without any psychobabble or a la mode gobbledegook. It was heartening to hear an audience cheer at the end of an opera because of the quality of signing and orchestral playing in a production that any need for virtue signalling....

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/rosina-takes-control-on-every-level/

The auditorium might have been extremely lightly populated but those who had come along to see the show, masked or unmasked such is the confusing state of affairs in Wales, enjoyed a rare treat & #8…

27/09/2021

Miss Cat has had her jab

25/09/2021

Welsh National Opera at Wales Millennium Centre Having swigged the booze and popped the pills in her IKEA box of a house before blowing her brains out in the shower, this Madam Butterfly seemed to have realised too late that she should have heeded the advice of the decent men in the opera. Having turned her back on her own people and realising her son would be better off with the stable, sensible American woman and his father, she has no future....

https://operascene.co.uk/reviews/madam-butterfly-a-commodity-in-a-buyers-market/

Welsh National Opera at Wales Millennium Centre Having swigged the booze and popped the pills in her IKEA box of a house before blowing her brains out in the shower, this Madam Butterfly seemed to …

22/09/2021

The Choral award is given for AAM’s world premiere recording of Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Messe Solemnelle, which was released in October 2020 to critical acclaim. The recording featured an exceptional cast of soloists alongside the Choir and Orchestra of AAM and Richard Egarr. Gramophone wrote: “Dussek himself could scarcely have hoped for a performance as fine as this one … It’s a fascinating work and an important project, impressively recorded, exquisitely presented and enthusiastically recommended.”...

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/the-academy-of-ancient-music-wins-gramophone-choral-award/

The Choral award is given for AAM’s world premiere recording of Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Messe Solemnelle, which was released in October 2020 to critical acclaim. Th…

06/09/2021

In 1959 the House of Commons endorsed the principle of public subsidy and the independence of the arts. This largely began state subsidy of the arts. By 1962 the Royal Opera was told its subsidy would be pegged at 87.5 per cent of the previous year's income. The more shows they put on the more money they would get. On this argument some of the largest companies that receive the highest subsidies now would receive the lowest as they have some of the lowest numbers of performances. ...

https://operascene.co.uk/news/how-should-we-ensure-companies-actually-perform/

In 1959 the House of Commons endorsed the principle of public subsidy and the independence of the arts. This largely began state subsidy of the arts. By 1962 the Royal Opera was told its subsidy wo…

02/09/2021

Music Director Jonathan Lyness talks about creating a new score for four instruments to perform Puccini’s Il tabarro, and Artistic Director Richard Studer reflects on the productions genesis and development during lockdown life, as they bring Mid Wales Opera's latest tour to audiences. "Puccini seems to have felt a special affinity with Paris, so much so that MWO, in conceiving its “Puccini in Paris” season, was almost spoilt for choice," Jonathan explained....

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/mid-wales-operas-parisian-love-affair/

Music Director Jonathan Lyness talks about creating a new score for four instruments to perform Puccini’s Il tabarro, and Artistic Director Richard Studer reflects on the productions genesis and de…

01/09/2021

I’ve been composing to commission for over 40 years now, in about as many genres as you could shake a baton at, but had never written an opera. Not, that is, until 2014 or thereabouts, the time when the BBC finally dispensed with my services as the presenter (since the late 70s) of the daily Welsh-language radio current affairs programme…...

https://operascene.co.uk/interviews/un-nos-ola-leuad-a-new-welsh-language-opera/

I’ve been composing to commission for over 40 years now, in about as many genres as you could shake a baton at, but had never written an opera.  Not, that is, until 2014 or thereabouts, the ti…

31/08/2021

Iford Arts New Generation Artists demonstrated there is no shortage of talent with this performance of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at Belcombe Court. The audience was treated to individual performances that would happily grace some of our professional state funded opera companies. Clearly, carefully rehearsed by production director Christopher Luscombe and artistic director Oliver Gooch, the singers included two artists who have previously worked with Iford Arts, Fiona Finsbury as a sparkling young Nedda, nimbly transforming from frustrated woman to the delicately prancing Columbine, and a suitably dashing Dan de Souza as her lover Silvio....

https://operascene.co.uk/reviews/iford-arts-new-generation-artists-i-pagliacci/

Iford Arts New Generation Artists demonstrated there is no shortage of talent with this performance of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at Belcombe Court. The audience was treated to individual performances…

31/08/2021

This delicious performance of the stripped back to its emotional basics I Pagliacci had an increased poignancy, being the last show of Iford Arts short summer festival. The story is of the troupe of travelling players about to make their own performance before packing up and heading back on the road, with all the challenges of financial uncertainty, the “gypsy” lifestyle and pressures on relationships....

https://operascene.co.uk/reviews/mezzocav-and-i-pagliacci-iford-arts/

This delicious performance of the stripped back to its emotional basics I Pagliacci had an increased poignancy, being the last show of Iford Arts short summer festival. The story is of the troupe o…

26/08/2021

Longborough Festival Opera is streaming its 2021 concert performance of Die Walkure. Watch here(Available on demand until Friday 25 February 2022) This concert production of Die Walküre was filmed live at Longborough Festival Opera on 8 June as part of the festival's new Ring cycle. Wotan is sung by Cardiff singer Paul Carey Jones. The cycle began in June 2019, with ...

https://operascene.co.uk/news/longboroughs-die-walkure-available-on-demand/

Longborough Festival Opera is streaming its 2021 concert performance of Die Walkure. Watch here(Available on demand until Friday 25 February 2022) This concert production of Die Walküre was filmed …