When Franz Lehar’s Merry Widow premiered in Vienna in 1905 it was an instant hit. Its catchy score had men whistling it in the street. Women of all ages and class, swayed to the Merry Widow Waltz imagining themselves in the arms of the Merry Widow’s dashing romantic lead, Danilo. Audiences also loved the central character,…
Tag: Opera Holland Park
Opera Holland Park enters new waters with Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman’
This season Opera Holland Park has had a first stab at Wagner with The Flying Dutchman, this work being a doable two and a half hours as opposed to the usual four. The legend of a Dutch sea-captain, condemned to sail the ocean forever, until he finds the love of a good, faithful, woman, was…
‘Edgar’ – Puccini’s early unloved opera performed at Opera Holland Park
2024 is the centenary of Puccini’s death. In order to honour the great man, James Clutton, Director of Opera at OHP, opted to put on Tosca this season and also Edgar, a little-known early work of Puccini’s. Edgar premiered at La Scala in 1899 and received a lacklustre reception. Believing he could improve on the opera,…
Paul Grant Cuts It as the Barber of Seville at Opera Holland Park
It was over to Opera Holland Park again, this time for Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. In its time, this opera was a huge success and it remains popular to this day. I have seen it twice in the last few months, at English National Opera, and last Thursday at Opera Holland Park. What makes this such…
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…
Thrilling Staging of Puccini’s Le Villi at Opera Holland Park
Every year Opera Holland Park presents a new double bill of short opera. It’s a neat endeavour as it introduces audiences to opera that might not otherwise have seen the light of performance. In the hands of new creatives, singers and musicians, the bite-size works, lasting no more than forty-five minutes, give interesting insights into…
Young Artists provide a compelling Onegin at Opera Holland Park
Opera Holland Park has been mentoring young singers and conductors for a decade now and its efforts to nurture burgeoning talent continue to bear fruit. Young Artists performing Tchaikovsky’s Onegin impressed this week, the principal singers providing intriguing insights into the roles of Tatiana, Olga, Lensky and Onegin. Rory Musgrave’s Onegin in particular drew attention. For his…
Inspired Casting for Opera Holland Park’s ‘Onegin’
When Eugene Onegin premiered in Moscow in 1879, Tchaikovksy was aware of the weight of expectation around his new opera which had been directly inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s epic poem of the same title. Pushkin was Russia’s Shakespeare – a god. Would his dramatisation of Pushkin’s masterpiece come off well? Pushkin was long gone by then, having…
In Opera Holland Park’s Amico Fritz, the love duets rule
In an age where maximum noise and drama seems to be a prerequisite to an opera’s success, Amico Fritz might be regarded as the cuckoo in the nest. Its pastoral, gentle story-line is likely to pass most opera goers by. Opera Holland Park on the other hand is championing Mascagni’s work in a new production – presenting…
Vixen in the Park
Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen is a popular work on the opera circuit. Man’s uneasy alliance with the natural world is a theme which chimes particularly well with our times. Janácek wrote it way back in 1921 however, and he spent many an hour studying forest animals (as did many other composers worth their salt before him). …
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