Live Eventsmehr...
KasselThe Fiery Angel
Prokofjew: Der feurige Engel
Ainārs Rubiķis; Frederic Wake-Walker; Staatstheater Kassel; Anna Jones; Orchester des Staatstheaters Kassel; Opernchor des Staatstheaters Kassel
Neue Kritikenmehr...
Unreal city: The Rake's Progress at the Royal Academy of Music
Frederic Wake-Walker's realisation of the Hogarth-inspired opera is visually bracing and assuredly sung.
Strong cast lifts constrained staging in Glyndebourne's Fidelio
A vast panopticon cages strong musical performances in Wake-Walker's Fidelio at Glyndebourne, with Dorothea Herbert and Adam Smith standing out vocally and emotionally as Leonore and Florestan.
An emotionally distant Peter Grimes at Oper Köln
Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes is a nuanced, gripping tale that should pack an emotional punch. Despite fine moments, Oper Köln's production didn't serve the work.
At the World's Edge with London Sinfonietta in Spitalfields
It’s all about puppets at the moment, from War Horse to Madama Butterfly – even Studio Ghibli’s complicated cult film Princess Mononoke has had the puppet treatment – and the latest musical project to do the string thing, so to speak, is from the London Sinfonietta.
The Opera Group: Bow Down
Two sisters, a knight, a miller, and a blind harpist. Such is the cast of Tony Harrison and Harrison Birtwistle's Bow Down, their 1977 music-theatre piece currently being toured around the UK by The Opera Group. It's an elemental, mythic piece, but also a testament to the endless capacity for novelty that old, grim folk tales like this have.