Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Francis O'Connor

*****

High Wycombe

10. Juli 2026

The Importance of Being Earnest is a smash hit for Garsington

Von Eleanor Knight

Nico Darmanin (Almaviva) and Simon Bailey (Doctor Bartolo) © Marc Brenner

Utter joy: Grange Park Opera’s Barbiere is a hit

Von Dominic Lowe, 25. Juni 2026

With an excellent cast and superb musicianship from the pit, Bruno Ravella's new production of Rossini's beloved comedy knocks it out of the park for Grange Park Opera.

*****

*****

West Horsley

25. Juni 2026

Utter joy: Grange Park Opera’s new Barbiere is a hit

Von Dominic Lowe

David Stout (Mazeppa) and Rachel Nicholls (Mariya) © Marc Brenner

Ukraine matters: Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa at Grange Park Opera

Von Roy Westbrook, 14. Juni 2025

Why is Tchaikovsky’s very fine opera still a rarity outside Russia? David Pountney directs a new production at the Surrey festival.

****1

****1

West Horsley

14. Juni 2025

Ukraine matters: Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa at Grange Park Opera

Von Roy Westbrook

Nicholas Brownlee (Méphistophélès) and Duke Kim (Faust) © Pat Redmond

Dublin

Irish National Opera serves up a terrifically entertaining Faust

Von Andrew Larkin, 1. Oktober 2023

Jack Furness turns Faust into an Oppenheimer-type scientist in a powerful, well-sung staging in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre.

****1

****1

Dublin

1. Okt. 2023

Irish National Opera serves up a terrifically entertaining Faust

Von Andrew Larkin

Over the top: revamped Tosca returns to the Theatre in the Woods

Von Mark Pullinger, 10. Juni 2023

Stephen Medcalf gingers up Grange Park Opera’s staging with some deft directorial touches… even if Tosca is denied her final leap.

***11

***11

West Horsley

10. Juni 2023

Over the top: revamped Tosca returns to the Theatre in the Woods

Von Mark Pullinger

Into the lion's mouth: Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Grange Park Opera

Von Mark Pullinger, 11. Juni 2022

No hippos in tutus for The Dance of the Hours, but panto frolics abound in Stephen Madcalf's staging in the idyllic Theatre in the Woods.

***11

***11

West Horsley

11. Juni 2022

Into the lion's mouth: Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Grange Park Opera

Von Mark Pullinger

Dublin

A resonant Fidelio from Irish National Opera

Von Andrew Larkin, 7. November 2021

Under director Annabelle Comyn’s modern setting, we have a moving, convincing Fidelio to resonate with our current age.

****1

****1

Dublin

7. Nov. 2021

A resonant Fidelio from Irish National Opera

Von Andrew Larkin

Ivan not quite so Terrible: a Rimsky-Korsakov double bill at Grange Park Opera

Von Mark Pullinger, 19. Juni 2021

First marketed as Ivan the Terrible by Serge Diaghilev, Rimsky-Korsakov's first opera The Maid of Pskov makes a rare appearance outside of Russia, in leafy Surrey.

***11

***11

West Horsley

19. Juni 2021

Ivan not quite so Terrible at Grange Park Opera

Von Mark Pullinger

Leeds

Opera North's thrilling Street Scene brings Golden Age Broadway to Leeds

Von Richard Wilcocks, 18. Januar 2020

Opera North brings Kurt Weill's “Broadway opera” Street Scene to the Leeds Grand Theatre in a thrilling production directed by Matthew Eberhardt and conducted by James Holmes.

****1

****1

Leeds

18. Jan. 2020

Opera North's Street Scene brings Golden Age Broadway to Leeds

Von Richard Wilcocks

Clown court: Offenbach's Fantasio at Garsington

Von Matthew Rye, 14. Juni 2019

The UK stage debut of Offenbach’s neglected Fantasio reveals a musical sizzler, but directorially it needs a more sympathetic touch than Garsington musters.

***11

***11

High Wycombe

14. Juni 2019

Clown court: Offenbach's Fantasio at Garsington

Von Matthew Rye

Polished Porgy: Gershwin triumphs in Surrey

Von Matthew Rye, 8. Juni 2019

Grange Park Opera’s new production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess makes for a searingly effective evening of music and drama.

****1

****1

West Horsley

8. Juni 2019

Polished Porgy: Gershwin triumphs in Surrey

Von Matthew Rye

Bonn

A superbly entertaining Kiss Me, Kate at the Theater Bonn

Von Cristina Burack, 10. November 2018

Theater Bonn successfully tackles Kiss Me, Kate in an appropriately light production.

****1

****1

Bonn

10. Nov. 2018

A superbly entertaining Kiss Me, Kate at the Theater Bonn

Von Cristina Burack

Romantic love blooms in the lost garden of West Horsley

Von John Johnston, 26. Juni 2018

Olena Tokar's assured coloratura made an immediate success of the waltz with her convincingly adolescent appearance, rhythmic verve and stylish phrasing.

***11

***11

West Horsley

26. Juni 2018

Romantic love blooms in the lost garden of West Horsley

Von John Johnston

Dublin

Fun and frolics at Irish National Opera's Figaro

Von Andrew Larkin, 17. April 2018

A wonderful ful-filled caper by the Irish National Opera of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Erraught as Susanna and Miskelly as Cherubino really impressing.

****1

****1

Dublin

17. Apr. 2018

Fun and frolics at Irish National Opera's Figaro

Von Andrew Larkin

London

Dove's Flight takes off superbly to launch Royal Academy's new theatre

Von Mark Pullinger, 12. März 2018

Dove's infectious score nods to Copland, Bernstein and Britten and its tongue-twisting ensembles and high-wire vocal writing were wonderfully performed.

*****

*****

London

12. März 2018

Dove's Flight takes off superbly

Von Mark Pullinger

Personenregie perfection: Martin Duncan's Il turco in Italia at Garsington

Von David Karlin, 26. Juni 2017

Garsington's latest Rossini buffa is on the nail orchestrally, mixed vocally and one of the best pieces of acting and stage movement you'll see in opera.

****1

****1

High Wycombe

26. Juni 2017

Personenregie perfection: Garsington's Turco in Italia

Von David Karlin

Grange Park Opera's inaugural Tosca

Von David Karlin, 8. Juni 2017

Woefully stiff acting lets down an otherwise excellent production; Joseph Calleja impresses in his role début as Cavaradossi.

***11

***11

West Horsley

8. Juni 2017

Grange Park Opera's inaugural Tosca

Von David Karlin

Amsterdam

A high-spirited Don Giovanni at Nederlandse Reisopera

Von Nicolas Nguyen, 9. März 2017

Director Jo Davies' staging of Mozart’s dramma giocoso for Nederlandse Reisopera is a high-spirited affair packed with humour, where the emphasis is decidedly more on giocoso than on the dramma.

***11

***11

Amsterdam

9. März 2017

A high-spirited Don Giovanni at Nederlandse Reisopera

Von Nicolas Nguyen

Buxton

“Beethoven's what?” Leonore at Buxton Festival

Von Dominic Lowe, 8. Juli 2016

Stephen Barlow makes the case for Beethoven's earlier version of Fidelio, but doesn't quite manage to convince.

***11

***11

Buxton

8. Juli 2016

“Beethoven's what?" Leonore at Buxton Festival

Von Dominic Lowe

Emotionally powerful La fanciulla del West at Grange Park Opera

Von David Truslove, 4. Juni 2016

Using Stephen Medcalf’s 2008 staging, this opening night of love and loneliness was a feast for the eyes, a musical triumph and a dramatic tour-de-force that tugged at the heart strings.

****1

****1

Alresford

4. Juni 2016

Emotionally powerful La fanciulla del West

Von David Truslove

Verismo before its time: Eugene Onegin at Grange Park

Von David Karlin, 10. Juli 2015

Stephen Medcalf's meticulous staging of Tchaikovsky's bitter masterpiece is lit up by Jung Soo Yun's Lensky, giving a direct injection of emotions: verismo before its time.

****1

****1

Alresford

10. Juli 2015

Verismo before its time: Eugene Onegin

Von David Karlin

Israelites vs Philistines: Samson et Dalila at Grange Park

Von David Karlin, 20. Juni 2015

Grange Park’s Samson et Dalila doesn’t hit the bull’s eye, but it’s well worth the visit for a decent all-round staging of an unfamiliar work, an excellent rendering of its sumptuous score and for a thrilling piece of singing by Carl Tanner.

***11

***11

Alresford

20. Juni 2015

Israelites vs Philistines: Samson et Dalila at Grange Park

Von David Karlin

Montreal

Silent Night draws strength from its all-Canadian cast in Montréal

Von Richard Turp, 16. Mai 2015

Silent Night by Kevin Puts closes L'Opéra de Montréal's 2014-2015 season and is notable for revealing a formidable all-Canadian cast of principals.

***11

***11

Montreal

16. Mai 2015

Silent Night draws strength from its all-Canadian cast

Von Richard Turp

Buxton

Love reigns in Buxton's Orfeo ed Euridice, but at what cost?

Von Mark Pullinger, 13. Juli 2014

An updated Orfeo and Eurydice at Buxton sees Orpheus as an ageing rocker, too distracted by adoring groupies to notice Eurydice. However, one piece of casting was an unsolvable conundrum.

***11

***11

Buxton

13. Juli 2014

Love reigns in Buxton's Orfeo ed Euridice, but at what cost?

Von Mark Pullinger

Opera's dead parrot sketch: Offenbach's Vert-Vert delights at Garsington

Von David Karlin, 9. Juni 2014

Vert-Vert, undoubtedly the only opera named after a dead parrot, is a very, very silly opera – more a series of comic sketches than an integrated work. But in Garsington's production, everything delights.

****1

****1

High Wycombe

9. Juni 2014

Vert-Vert delights at Garsington

Von David Karlin

Grimes ahoy! Suffolk's coast transplanted to the rolling Hampshire Downs

Von Mark Pullinger, 30. Mai 2014

Bringing Peter Grimes to Grange Park a year after the Britten centenary is an enormous challenge. With ‘Grimes on the Beach’ still fresh in the memory, the task of recreating the Suffolk coast in Hampshire’s idyllic countryside might have seemed a step too far.

****1

****1

Alresford

30. Mai 2014

Grimes ahoy! Suffolk's coast transplanted to the rolling Hampshire Downs

Von Mark Pullinger

A must-see Entführung aus dem Serail at Garsington

Von Roger Smith, 7. Juni 2013

Those who feel that country house opera is in some way not the real thing, just an excuse to dress up and picnic on manicured lawns, should hie to Garsington’s new Die Entführung aus dem Serail with all speed.

*****

*****

High Wycombe

7. Juni 2013

A must-see Entführung aus dem Serail at Garsington

Von Roger Smith

Garsington Opera's La Périchole bubbles and delights

Von David Karlin, 18. Juni 2012

The West End/Broadway musical is alive and well, raking in millions with its blend of light music, song and dance routines and not-too-taxing drama. But its spiritual ancestor, the operetta, is an unfashionable beast.

****1