Even with director Lydia Steier mangling Spontini’s ending, this is Paris Opera at its best. When the grisly corpses of Roman hero general, Licinius, and his main squeeze, vestal virgin (virgin in a euphemistic sense) heroine, Julia, emerged bloodied, suspended and...
Italian soprano, Carmen Giannattasio, embodied Minnie’s swaggering authority. When the first chords of Puccini’s opera set in the Californian gold rush – La fanciulla del West – rang out in Bologna you could be forgiven for thinking you had turned up at a...
This was a bizarre interpretation of Verdi’s masterpiece but American soprano Emily Pogorelc nailed the role of Violetta. Curtains for Violetta. In the final scene of Semperoper Dresden’s La Traviata, Violetta, Verdi’s tragic heroine, was to die alone. As...
If the squeals of little fish flying through the air, then sizzling in a frying pan – unborn children of the watching potential mother who refuses to bear them – seem an absurdist operatic turn-off, bear with me. Don’t tune out. Just yet. Fish are just one of many...
DiDonato’s voice is like listening to silver leaves falling gently into a stream. Joyce DiDonato went down a bomb in Teatro Real Madrid’s Theodora. Actually, she made a bomb. Brown Semtex sticks, wirey colour-coded connector things, gaffer tape, handled with...
Kurt Weill’s timeless 1947 opera was a smart choice for a music school production. Frost in Florida? After hurricanes, folk in Miami seemed battened down for anything. But scrub global warming oxymoronic headlines – ‘Global Warming Brings Big Freeze to Sunbelt State’...
Written during Brezhnev’s “Great Stagnation”, the work is heavily charged with dissident political satire. Great place Zürich. In the Opernhaus bar, before Alfred Schnittke’s rarely performed (that’s a bit of an understatement! - Ed.) opera, Life with an...
On Site Opera's production of Lucidity is proof that the opera medium can tell a story of common experience in a more impactful way than any other. Lucidity. Clearly going to be different. Dave Eggar, cellist in the five-piece American Modern Ensemble orchestra wore a...
Bucharest has a strong operatic gene pool. But it could do so much better if it forged closer links with other European opera houses. Two soldiers stood impassive guard outside Bucharest Opera House in the evening dusk. Could have been extras left over from last...
The festival offers a complete experience for nerds and first timers alike. As Pagliacci took his curtain call at the end of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s corpse-strewn masterpiece, his mum, immediately in front of me, plonk centre Row C in Wexford’s National Opera...
Scottish Opera flew into Manhattan to mark the opening night of their co-production with New York’s Met of Argentinian composer, Osvaldo Golijov’s opera, Ainadamar. A proud moment for Scot Op. A co-pro with the Met is a resounding endorsement of the...
The Rest is Opera:
Making opera fun for those of us who ain’t aficianados!
Just announced. Randall Shannon will move on from his Executive Director role at Wexford Festival Opera on 14th February, when his contract ends. Parachuted in as an interim replacement is Loughlin Deegan, a freelance consultant. Despite the ritual Wexford ‘wished...
Dominic Sandbrook, the historian/podcaster/columnist has joined forces with composer Joseph Phibbs to awaken the dead. Sandbrook co-hosts podcast The Rest is Politics. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Marking Margaret Thatcher’s 100th birth-centenary an...
Eugene Onegin is one of the Master’s beloved operas. (There are too many). But when he turned up expectantly at The Royal Opera House, the cast seemed to have lost their voices. Because they were ballet dancers. Not being a Plié, Pointe, Porte de Bras sort of person...
The annual awards ceremony will be on November 13th, 2025, at the Stavros Niarchos Hall, Athens. Harry Hyman, Founder of the International Opera Awards announcing the venue said, “We’re thrilled to bring the International Opera Awards to Athens for the first...
Ms Davidsen has joyous news. She is to be the mother of twins, requiring a discreet withdrawal from performances from March until 2026. Scuttlebutt offers congratulations. The Master is jubilant. He’s a big fan. She is squeezing in a run as Leonora –...
The Master has tipped me off that Dr. Harry Brunjes, (he’s a real quack) Chairman of English National Opera has stepped down. As an interim appointment, Deputy Chair of ENO Louise Jeffries will oversee the process of seeking a permanent replacement. Time to hail...
Wrung out after last year’s Ring Cycle Longborough Festival Opera is taking a sideways glance at the Wagner family after the old man’s death. Warring cats in a sack. Wahnfried begins with the death of Richard Wagner and spans forty years of history. Think Succession!...
Their film of Verdi’s La Traviata is complete. The Master tells me it is a beautifully crafted piece. Available on Sky Arts. We watched. Susan Gaspar is Violetta, Thomas Elwin, Alfredo, and Roderick Williams is a compelling Germont, convincing Violetta she should...