Performer: Danilo Antonelli

Fine soprano performances from Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson and Victoria Simmonds can't save Ambroise Thomas's inanimate object of a plot. Thank goodness Wagner saved us from more of the same. 

Last night, Glyndebourne presented Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Proms, a tale of intrigue in a Turkish harem. At Grimeborn Festival, a grungy, hip East End alternative, we had the genuine article: Gariné, an opera buffa by Turkish/Armenian composer Dikran Tchouhadjian.