At Wilton’s Music Hall, a ghost light for Britten’s ghost story

By Mark Pullinger, 28 January 2021

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“we brush past barley-sugar twisted pillars and rusty pipes, clamber the rickety staircases”

Reviewed at Wilton's Music Hall, London on 26 January 2021

Britten, The Turn of the Screw

OperaGlass Works

John Wilson, Conductor

Selina Cadell, Director

Tom Piper, Set Designer

Rosalind Ebbutt, Costume Designer

Lewis Hannaby, Lighting Designer

Eliza Thompson, Director

Dominic Best, Co-director

Robert Murray, Peter Quint, The Prologue

Rhian Lois, Governess

Gweneth-Ann Rand, Mrs Grose

Francesca Chiejina, Miss Jessel

Leo Jemison, Miles

Alys Mererid Roberts, Flora

Devilishly good fun: The Rake's Progress

Benjamin Poore, 17th November

A compelling and energetic debut production from a new opera company in the raddled surroundings of Wilton's Music Hall.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Petrenko and Serebrennikov forge a new Ring in Salzburg

Phillip Richter, 1st April

The Berliner Philharmoniker’s much-anticipated return to Salzburg gets off to an impressive musical start. Kirill Serebrennikov’s staging raises numerous questions, but answers few of them.

****1

Eyes wide shut for Berlin’s new Ballo

Mark Pullinger, 29th March

At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Rafael R Villalobos addresses the problems he perceives with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, although the musical performances – led by Anna Netrebko – compensate.

***11

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera brings Spanish to the Lyric Opera

Graham Meyer, 29th March

The Lyric Opera of Chicago's presentation of El último sueño de Frida y Diego brings the Mexican artists to life... or at least a life reminiscent of their real ones.

****1

Handel’s Belshazzar at Komische Oper Berlin

Zenaida des Aubris, 28th March

The Baroque confectionery of Herbert Fritsch's production of Handel's oratorio belies a serious core which is all too close to today's headlines.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.