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Conductor Evelino Pido made the audience feel they were watching a Moulin Rouge cabaret and together, the team raised this piece from the realms of soap opera into something with significant depth and thought. Polish novelist Zofia Posmysz, whose novella about her three years in Auschwitz inspired the opera; It is the strength of these two performances that carry the production; At the start of his opera review of Beatrice and Benedict - Berlioz's operatic take on Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing - Stephen Walsh lamented the composer's conspicuous failing - his inability to create effective drama on stage. The grand result was an utterly convincing and surreptitiously revolutionary tale. at the Royal Opera House, thanks to David McVicar's stellar revival and his superb leading cast members. Toronyi-Lalic was so impressed with Grigolo he thought he even outshone the pitch-perfect Angela Gheorghiu as Marguerite who unusually floundered slightly here, struggling with the French emphases and losing her consonants on occasions. They make some lovely additions, such as the Renaissance-arcade set, various witty stage jokes and some well-constructed tableaux vivants, but they also drop in the occasional mistake of their own. Though not a perfect production, there was plenty more to recommend from it, most notably Jonathan Veira, in his prime in the comic bass baritone role of Don Pasquale, and Enea Scala, providing a perfect, stylish tenor. The world premier at the Epstein Theatre is on 3 March and the opera itself is inevitably attracting international interest from governments, NGOs and charities. And finally, Igor Toronyi-Lalic from The Arts Desk found himself unexpectedly moved to tears by Gounod's Victorian melodrama 'Faust' And finally, Riccardo Chailly's Beethoven symphony cycle, performed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus, began its residency at the Barbican, and Igor Toronyi-Lalic was first to give his view on the opening night. On a more light-hearted note, The Arts Desk's David Benedict was delighted with David McVicar's top-notch revival of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House. The odd hiccup from conductor Christian Curnyn and the unbalanced choir did not signify - he was left wanting more. In the rather unsuitable setting of The Roses Theatre, Tewksbury, Stephan Walsh settled down to watch Mid Wales Opera's production of Puccini's 'Madam Butterfly'. On a ship to Brazil we meet two women who were once in the same camp during the Second World War, one as an SS overseer (played by Michelle Breedt), the other as a spirited inmate (Giselle Allen).
Music Conductor
Hoogwod Instrument Collection
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Christopher Hogwood, music conductor, Hoogwod Instrument Collection,
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