‘7 Deaths of Maria Callas’ is described as an “opera project”, the brainchild of performance artist Marina Abramović. The timing is ideal – English National Opera (ENO) describes the piece as “celebratory”, as we approach the centenary of Callas’s birth on 2 December; while Abramović is currently the subject of a major retrospective at the…
Category: opera review
Sea change: ‘Peter Grimes’, English National Opera, London
I was already excited about this evening before a note had even been sung or played. The start of a new ENO season: a happy occasion in itself. But I was also new to this acclaimed David Alden production, which was last given in 2014, only a few months before I went to my very…
A Sublime ‘Hansel and Gretel’ at Opera Holland Park
Opera Holland Park’s decision to take on Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel this 2023 season was inspired and not only because the story chimes with societal concerns over child poverty and hunger. There are many reasons to see this late 19th century opera, which is far from political and more religious in sentiment, the libretto having been…
Past and present collide: Saariaho, ‘Innocence’, Royal Opera House, London
Perhaps the most compelling testament to the impact of ‘Innocence’ is that I’ve thought about little else since the curtain fell. Knowing I would want to write about it, I’ve felt the intricacies of the piece turning round in my mind, dovetailing with each other, not unlike the interlocking 3D jigsaw of a set that…
Three dolours trilogy: Puccini, ‘Il trittico’, Scottish Opera
‘Il trittico’ – or, ‘The Triptych’ – is made up of three one-act operas, each roughly an hour long, that on the surface appear totally distinct. So much so, in fact, that companies often break the work up into something more manageable: presenting two parts as a double-bill, for example, or pairing one of the…
Philip Glass’s Akhnaten Still Shines Brightly at the Coliseum
As Glass read Oedipus and Akhnaten about the Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaten, who ruled Egypt in 1351-1334 BC, he knew he had found his final hero to his operatic trilogy of ‘portrait operas’ he had been formulating, dedicated to the great thinkers of this world. By then, Glass had composed two: Einstein on the beach (on Albert Einstein) in…
Seeing red: ‘Carmen’, English National Opera
This is a stunning production of an opera you might think you know – until this version starts stripping it down, peeling away the layers until you’re left with just a man, a woman… and darkness. English National Opera (ENO)’s current ‘Carmen’ is director Jamie Manton’s revival of Calixto Bieito’s 1999 staging, which updates the…
Elizabeth lines: ‘Gloriana’ at English National Opera
ENO’s one-off presentation of Britten’s coronation opera – originally programmed as a platinum jubilee-year special – was destined to become a powerfully significant evening. A double tribute: not only to the late monarch herself, but to the ENO company itself – still very much alive, defying its would-be executioners by putting its heart and soul…
An Enlightened Staging of Gluck’s ‘Armide’, a Tale of a Tough Woman Scorned at L’Opéra Comique Paris.
This weekend I travelled to Paris to the newly restored Opéra Comique where a new production of Gluck’s Armide has opened. You could be forgiven for not ever having heard of Armide. It was conceived in the 17th century with a score by Lully before Gluck came up with a new musical setting in the late 18th century. Taken…
An excellent cast powers ENO’s Tosca
English National Opera’s new season opened with Tosca which is always guaranteed to draw a crowd. Puccini’s opera has much to commend it, notably a lush and inventive musical score, unforgettable arias, and moments of sometimes shocking drama. There were problems on opening night at the Coliseum. When Annilese Miskimmons, ENO’s Artistic Director, announced that…
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