At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: Opera

• Baroque Contemporary Classical Culture Georgian Ireland London Opera

  The Intelligence Park at the Linbury Theatre review ***

  The Intelligence Park Linbury Theatre Royal Opera House, 2nd October 2019 I have no-one else to blame for this. Having now heard a smattering of his larger scale works thanks in large part to Thomas Ades’s advocacy in his Beethoven cycle with the Britten Sinfonia, having invested in a CD…

  November 13, 2019
• art Ballet Beauty Culture Design Drawing Exhibition London Moscow Opera Painting Paris Prints Russia Textiles

  Natalia Goncharova exhibition at Tate Modern review *****

  Natalia Goncharova Tate Modern, 26th August 2019 Right cards on the table. If I don’t start getting a move on I am never going to catch up in terms of documenting my cultural adventures on this blog, Which would render it even more pointless and too much of a chore.…

  October 11, 2019
• Bible Classical Music Community Culture London Opera Performance Theatre

  Noye’s Fludde at the Theatre Royal Stratford East review ****

  Noye’s Fludde Theatre Royal Stratford East, 3rd July 2019 You might think it’s a bit sad really. A grown man in his 50s on his own at a children’s opera performed by a community that he cannot claim to be any part of. Unfortunately my kids never caught the Britten…

  August 31, 2019
• Chamber Music Classical Music Concert Concerto Contemporary Classical Culture Enlightenment Germany London Opera Symphony

  Britten Sinfonia Beethoven cycle at the Barbican Hall review *****

  Britten Sinfonia, Thomas Ades (conductor), Barbican Hall, 21st and 26th May 2019 Lawrence Power (viola) Eamonn Dougan (director) Jennifer France (soprano) Christianne Stotjin (alto) Ed Lyon (tenor) Matthew Rose (bass) Britten Sinfonia Voices Choir of Royal Holloway Beethoven – Symphony No 7 in A majpor, Op 92 Gerald Barry –…

  June 10, 2019
• Crime Culture Georgian London Morality Musicals Opera Politics Theatre

  Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) at the Lyric Hammersmith review ***

  Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) Lyric Hammersmith, 22nd May 2019 Never seen John Gay’s ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera, though have seen Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera, on which it is based, a couple of times. Have been waiting patiently for a production of Britten’s 1948…

  June 10, 2019
• Culture London Myths Nationhood Opera USA

  Paul Bunyan at Alexandra Park Theatre review ****

  Paul Bunyan Alexandra Park Theatre, 11th May 2019 What was that all about? Benjamin Britten and WH Auden’s “choral operetta” which premiered in 1941 when they were in America, is a fable, structured like a Broadway musical, with an array of musical styles, (though BB’s hand is always clear), sometimes…

  May 29, 2019
• Culture Fiction Justice Literature London Morality Mortality Opera Sea

  Billy Budd at the Royal Opera House review ****

  Billy Budd Royal Opera House, 7th May 2019 The corruption of innocence, the struggle of good vs evil, Christ-like redemption and Pilate-like equivocation, the conflict between natural and legal justice, the outsider’s struggle for acceptance, repressed, scopophiliac, homosexual desire, the rational, scientific world contrasted with the mythic poetry of the…

  May 20, 2019
• Contemporary Classical Culture Feminism London London Streets Opera Power

  The Women of Whitechapel at the ENO review *****

  Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel English National Opera, 3rd April 2019 Composer Iain Bell and his librettist Emma Jenkins wanted to call this just The Women of Whitechapel. Some marketing types at the ENO decided it needed to be prefixed with the title of the infamous murderer, charitably…

  April 19, 2019
• Classical Music Culture Enlightenment Identity London Love Magic Opera Relationship

  The Magic Flute at the ENO review *****

  The Magic Flute English National Opera, 28th March 2019 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When opera works there is no other art form to touch. But when it doesn’t it can be mystifyingly dull. What’s more it can be the very same opera which is both…

  April 16, 2019
• Baroque Classical Music Concert Contemporary Classical Culture London Opera

  My top ten concerts and opera of 2018

  Just a list so I don’t forget. 1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – English National Opera – 4th March Not quite a war-horse of a production but Robert Carsen’s version of Britten’s Shakespearean opera looks, sounds and, well, is just wonderful. 2. Ligeti in Wonderland – South Bank – 11th,…

  January 15, 2019
• Classical Music Concert Contemporary Classical Culture Ireland London Opera Theatre War

  The Silver Tassie at the Barbican review *****

  The Silver Tassie Barbican Hall, 10th November 2018 Mark-Anthony Turnage (composer) Amanda Holden (libretto) Ashley Riches – Harry Sally Matthews – Susie Brindley Sherratt – The Croucher Claire Booth – Mrs Foran Marcus Farnsworth – Teddy Alexander Robin Baker – Barney Louise Alder – Jessie Susan Bickley – Mrs Heegan…

  November 24, 2018
• Classical Music Culture London Musicals Opera USA

  Porgy and Bess at the ENO review ****

  Porgy and Bess English National Opera, 31st October 2018 It has been a long time coming. This co-production, together with the Met and the Dutch National Opera, is the first time it has appeared on the Coliseum stage. The re-written version, with book by Suzanne Lori-Parks, (which attracted the ire…

  November 4, 2018