La Straniera, Chelsea Opera Group, Barlow, Cadogan Hall review - diva power saves minor Bellini

★★★ LA STRANIERA, CHELSEA OPERA GROUP, BARLOW, CADOGAN HALL Diva power saves minor Bellini

Australian soprano Helena Dix is honoured by fine fellow singers, but not her conductor

Chelsea Opera Group has made its own luck in winning the devotion of two great bel canto exponents: Nelly Miricioiu between 1998 and 2010, Helena Dix over the past 10 years. Last night was Dix’s official farewell before moving back to her native Australia. La Straniera may be a relative dud among Bellini’s operas, but it allows its soprano grace, poise and careful fireworks. An excellent cast reflected her mastery; but the conducting nearly sank the enterprise. 

The Queen of Spades, Garsington Opera review - sonorous gliding over a heart of darkness

★★★ THE QUEEN OF SPADES, GARSINGTON OPERA Sonorous gliding over a heart of darkness

Striking design and clear concept, but the intensity within comes and goes

Recent events have prompted the assertion – understandable in Ukraine – that the idea of the Russian soul is a nationalist myth. This production reminded me that it isn’t, if only by telling us of what we’ve lost: the majority of those great Russian singers and conductors who lit up previous stagings of Tchaikovsky’s dark masterpiece.

Nabucco, Royal Opera review - high passion but low drama

★★★ NABUCCO, ROYAL OPERA High passion but low drama

Atmospheric but ambiguous production, given extra weight by cast of rich voices

This latest revival of the Royal Opera’s Nabucco production has suffered more than most from COVID disruptions. At the first night, on 20 December, the chorus were obliged to wear masks, news that was greeted by boos from the audience. Then the next two performances were cancelled.

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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic team of arts and culture writers went ahead with an ambitious plan – to launch a dedicated internet site devoted to coverage of the UK arts scene.

Many of our readers today may have forgotten the arts journalism atmosphere of the first decade of the new century – especially the decimation of traditional broadsheet arts coverage that followed the financial crisis of 2008.

Il Trittico, Opéra de Paris review - reordered Puccini works for a phenomenal singing actor

★★★★★ IL TRITTICO, PARIS OPERA Reordered Puccini works for a phenomenal singing actor

Asmik Grigorian takes all three soprano leads in a near-perfect ensemble

So here in Paris, as at Salzburg in 2022, it’s no longer “Puccini’s Trittico” but “the Asmik Grigorian Trittico 3-1-2”. Which would be a very bad idea if she were a lazy diva like Anna Netrebko. But Grigorian works selflessly within wonderfully strong casts. In league with Christof Loy’s viscerally demanding productions and Carlo Rizzi’s infinitely sympathetic conducting, she sets the seal on one of the greatest operatic events I’ve ever experienced.

Faust, Royal Opera review - pure theatre in this solid revival

★★★ FAUST, ROYAL OPERA Smuggling its damnation under theatrical spectacle and excess

A Faust that smuggles its damnation under theatrical spectacle and excess

“Satan come to me!” The Devil doesn’t so much appear in David McVicar’s Faust as reveal himself to have always been there. We discover him – travelling trunk and brandy glass to hand, lazy smile on his lips – considering the interior of designer Charles Edwards’ magnificent church in Gounod’s own Second Empire Paris. And why not?

Pygmalion, Early Opera Company, Curnyn, Middle Temple Hall review - Rameau magic outside the opera house

★★★ PYGMALION, EARLY OPERA COMPANY, CURNYN, MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL Rameau magic outside the opera house

Welcome opportunity to catch opera-ballet, though not everything is in perfect focus

With French baroque opera all but banished from the UK’s major opera companies, it’s left to concert halls and country houses to fill the void. There’s a full-length treat ahead this summer with Rameau’s opéra-ballet Les Indes Galantes at Hampshire’s Grange Festival, but first Temple Music served up an amuse-bouche from Christian Curnyn and his Early Opera Company.

Parsifal, Glyndebourne review - the music flies up, the drama remains below

★★★★ PARSIFAL, GLYNDEBOURNE The music flies up, the drama remains below

Incandescent singing and playing, but the production domesticates the numinous

There’s a grail, but it doesn't glow in a mundane if perverted Christian ritual. Three of the main characters have young and old actor versions and the “wonder-working spear” is a knife in a Cain and Abel story superimposed on Wagner’s myth (as if that wasn’t complicated enough). Kundry, whom the composer defines as literally flying between “good” and “bad” worlds, enters primly in the first two acts bearing a tea-tray.

Giulio Cesare, The English Concert, Bicket, Barbican review - 10s across the board in perfect Handel

★★★★★ GIULIO CESARE, THE ENGLISH CONCERT, BICKET, BARBICAN 10s across the board

When you get total musicality from everyone involved, there’s nothing better

Is Giulio Cesare in Egitto, to give the full title, Handel’s best and shapeliest opera? Glyndebourne’s revival of the legendary David McVicar production last year made it seem so, not least thanks to the presence of two of last night’s soloists, Louise Alder as Cleopatra and Beth Taylor as Cornelia. Highlight of 2022 was the English Concert’s more sparely presented Serse. This concert Cesare from that stable lived up to both standards.

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