Russian songs of fate, love and death at the Staatsoper: Ferruccio Furlanetto and Igor Tchetuev

For this concert the Prague Symphony Orchestra brought their classical music heritage overseas to Colston Hall. The programme gave us a taste of composers close to the orchestra’s homeland, providing a delightful evening of luxury – in music and in dress code.

I had high expectations for the evening after being very impressed with an MSSO performance I had seen as a teenager. The first piece on the programme was the Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor. The performance highlighted both the playful and brutal elements of the piece which made for an exciting performance.

Peter Steins Inszenierung spiegelt gekonnt ein Werk wider, in dem sich musikalische Schlichtheit und üppiger Klang abwechseln.

In einer konventionellen Inszenierung, aber einem stimmungsvollen Bühnenbild stirbt in Baden-Baden Plácido Domingo als Simon Boccanegra einen würdevollen Operntod.

Tatiana Serjan sticht in einer ansonst soliden Macbeth-Inszenierug von Christian Räth hervor.