Aldeburgh Festival dives in at the deep end with Pelléas and Mélisande

Sophie Bevan (Mélisande) and Jacques Imbrailo (Pelléas)

Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Snape Maltings

Nicolas Testé (Arkel) and Gordon Bintner (Golaud)

Sophie Bevan (Mélisande) with Myrna Tennant, Camilla Seale and Phoebe Rayner

Von Eleanor Knight, 14 Juni 2026

Laden, bitte warten...

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“Debussy’s veil of mystery is not lifted by Rory Kinnear’s minimally semi-staged production”

Rezensierte Veranstaltung: Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, am 12 Juni 2026

Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande

Ryan Wigglesworth, Musikalische Leitung

Rory Kinnear, Regie

Vicki Mortimer, Bühnenbild

Paule Constable, Licht

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Jacques Imbrailo, Pelléas

Sophie Bevan, Mélisande

Gordon Bintner, Golaud

Nicolas Testé, Arkel

Dame Sarah Connolly, Geneviève

Beth Stirling, Yniold

Fabian-Jakob Balkhausen, ein Arzt

David Kennedy, Hirte

Wigglesworth's Shakespeare full of eloquent clarity

Mark Pullinger, 27th February

An operatic take on The Winter's Tale – categorised as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’ – premieres at English National Opera.

****1

Leeds Lieder's Songs of the Sea leaves audience buoyant

Richard Wilcocks, 1st April

Songs of the Sea, the opening concert of the Leeds Lieder Festival, leaves the audience in a happy and buoyant mood.

****1

Candide (or Optimism)

Kay Kempin, 5th June

First published in 1759, Voltaire’s Candide was re-imagined for the concert stage by Leonard Bernstein in 1956. An operetta whose aim was to mock the belief that everything—literally, everything—is for the best, Candide was an ideal medium through which to critique the excesses of McCarthyism and the complacency of the Eisenhower administration in 1950’s US politics.

Hoffmanns Erzählungen an der Volksoper Wien: Sprechstunde mit der Muse

Snapdragon, 7th June

Lotte de Beer schickt in ihrer Inszenierung Hoffmann zur Therapie – vergeblich. Musikalisch überzeugen vor allem die Frauen.

***11

Alban Bergs Lulu imponiert am Staatstheater Nürnberg

Michael Vieth, 30th May

Jens-Daniel Herzogs Neuinszenierung von Frank Wedekinds und Alban Bergs Operndrama Lulu überzeugt im Mix von Tragödie, Groteske und Komödie mit bewundernswerter musikalischer Qualität am Staatstheater Nürnberg.

*****

Eine Geburtstag-Neuinterpretation von Il viaggio a Reims in Salzburg

Laura Servidei, 25th May

In Barrie Koskys hyperaktiver Inszenierung wird Il viaggio a Reims zu einer Geburtstagsfeier zu Ehren Cecilia Bartolis – komplett mit überarbeitetem Text, extravaganten Kostümen, sexuellen Eskapaden und einer riesigen Torte.

***11

Weitere Kritiken...

Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.

Total immersion: Aldeburgh Festival dives in at the deep end with Pelléas and Mélisande