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Sepia memories: Scottish Opera’s La bohème delights in revival

By David Smythe, 11 October 2025

Hye-Youn Lee and Mario Chang head a strong cast in Barbe and Doucet’s revival of La bohème, which marks the retirement of veteran lighting designer, Guy Simard.

****1

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****1

Glasgow

11 Oct 2025

Sepia memories: Scottish Opera’s La bohème delights in revival

By David Smythe

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London

A mafioso Merry Widow at Opera Holland Park

By Dominic Lowe, 19 June 2025

Despite some excellent music-making, John Savournin's production is hindered by a laboured New York relocation.

**111

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**111

London

19 Jun 2025

A mafioso Merry Widow at Opera Holland Park

By Dominic Lowe

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Glasgow

Scottish Opera’s Merry Widow tangles with the New York Mafia

By David Smythe, 30 April 2025

With misplaced horse heads, violin case guns and as many mafia gags as you could hope for, Scottish Opera’s Merry Widow may not be subtle but it looks and sounds gorgeous.

****1

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****1

Glasgow

30 Apr 2025

Scottish Opera’s Merry Widow tangles with the New York Mafia

By David Smythe

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London

Magic takes time to sparkle in English National Opera's Elixir of Love

By Eleanor Knight, 15 November 2024

Harry Fehr’s directorial debut for ENO transposes Donizetti’s tale into a World War 2 setting. Rhian Lois charms and commands as Adina.

****1

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****1

London

15 Nov 2024

Magic takes time to sparkle in ENO's Elixir of Love

By Eleanor Knight

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London

Prescient then, terrifying now: The Handmaid’s Tale at English National Opera

By David Karlin, 01 February 2024

Margaret Atwood’s dystopic novel, masterfully adapted for the operatic stage, is strongly performed at ENO and rings even truer today than it did when it was written.

****1

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****1

London

01 Feb 2024

Prescient then, terrifying now: The Handmaid’s Tale at ENO

By David Karlin

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Edinburgh

More than cribs and tinsel: MacMillan’s dramatic Christmas Oratorio receives Scottish premiere

By David Smythe, 24 November 2023

The composer conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus with Roderick Williams and Rhian Lois in Edinburgh's Usher Hall.

****1

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Edinburgh

24 Nov 2023

More than cribs and tinsel: MacMillan’s dramatic Christmas Oratorio

By David Smythe

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London

Korngold's extravagant opera The Dead City staged in style by ENO

By Mark Valencia, 25 March 2023

Annilese Miskimmon directs a the first ever production by ENO of Erich Korngold's tale of bereavement, grief and the poisonous impact of lost love on an obsessive mind.

****1

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****1

London

25 Mar 2023

Korngold's extravagant opera The Dead City staged in style by ENO

By Mark Valencia

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London

A topical tale: Gilead returns to the Coliseum stage

By Matthew Rye, 08 April 2022

Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale comes home to English National Opera after 20 years in a powerful new production by Annilese Miskimmon.

*****

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*****

London

08 Apr 2022

A topical tale: Gilead returns to the Coliseum stage

By Matthew Rye

Glasgow

A little touch of magic in Scottish Opera's Hansel and Gretel

By Simon Thompson, 10 February 2021

Clever stage touches and great voices are enough to win over even the stoniest of hearts.

****1

****1

Glasgow

10 Feb 2021

A little touch of magic in Scottish Opera's Hansel and Gretel

By Simon Thompson

London

At Wilton’s Music Hall, a ghost light for Britten’s ghost story

By Mark Pullinger, 26 January 2021

When the pandemic struck and theatres were locked down, OperaGlass Works' staging of The Turn of the Screw was an early casualty. Creative thinking turned the production into a film, with London's oldest music hall the set.

****1

****1

London

26 Jan 2021

At Wilton’s Music Hall, a ghost light for Britten’s ghost story

By Mark Pullinger

London

Absurd, unpleasant and wonderfully pertinent: Gerald Barry's The Intelligence Park

By Timmy Fisher, 25 September 2019

Almost 30 years since its last run, Gerald Barry’s The Intelligence Park makes a boisterous return to the stage.

**111

**111

London

25 Sep 2019

Absurd, unpleasant and wonderfully pertinent:

By Timmy Fisher

Alresford

The Grange Festival's Falstaff hits all the right notes

By Dominic Lowe, 09 June 2019

Comic opera can fall flat, but if The Grange Festival's new production of Verdi's final masterpiece is a total delight, with a strong concept and a strong cast. This is country-house opera at its best.

*****

*****

Alresford

09 Jun 2019

The Grange Festival's Falstaff hits all the right notes

By Dominic Lowe

London

Vienna goes to Broadway for ENO's Merry Widow

By Kevin W Ng, 01 March 2019

ENO's Merry Widow is big, brash, and more than a touch juvenile – but it's the most fun one can have at the opera.

****1

****1

London

01 Mar 2019

Vienna goes to Broadway for ENO's Merry Widow

By Kevin W Ng

London

Lust and labyrinths: The Marriage of Figaro at English National Opera

By Dominic Lowe, 29 March 2018

Fiona Shaw's production doesn't always get everything right, but Lucy Crowe's debut as the Countess is the defining success of the this revival.

****1

****1

London

29 Mar 2018

Lust and labyrinths: The Marriage of Figaro at ENO

By Dominic Lowe

Geneva

Elena Langer's Figaro Gets a Divorce shines in Geneva

By Elodie Olson-Coons, 14 September 2017

Elena Langer's gorgeous and tongue-in-cheek Figaro Gets a Divorce shines in Geneva, despite David Pountney's boxy libretto.

****1

****1

Geneva

14 Sep 2017

Elena Langer's Figaro Gets a Divorce shines in Geneva

By Elodie Olson-Coons

Birmingham

Die Fledermaus: WNO's jolly good romp in Birmingham

By Clive Peacock, 28 June 2017

WNO's excellent revival of John Copley's 2011 staging of Die Fledermaus is a delight.

****1

****1

Birmingham

28 Jun 2017

WNO's jolly good romp in Birmingham

By Clive Peacock

Santa Fe

A thoughtful Don Giovanni at Santa Fe

By Maria Nockin, 01 August 2016

In Ron Daniels' production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Santa Fe Opera, the specter of death and the possibility of judgment is always center stage.

****1

****1

Santa Fe

01 Aug 2016

A thoughtful Don Giovanni at Santa Fe

By Maria Nockin

Bristol

WNO's Figaro Gets a Divorce: a memorable night in Bristol

By Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, 17 March 2016

Elena Langer and David Pountney's new WNO opera Figaro Gets a Divorce did not disappoint. Langer's new refreshing score had flair and imagination in a memorable performance.

****1

****1

Bristol

17 Mar 2016

WNO's Figaro Gets a Divorce: a memorable night

By Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

Cardiff

Strong performances in WNO's Marriage of Figaro

By Rohan Shotton, 20 February 2016

Lothar Koenigs conducted a musically excellent and dramatically straightforward performance of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in Cardiff.

***11

***11

Cardiff

20 Feb 2016

Strong performances in WNO's Marriage of Figaro

By Rohan Shotton

London

A heroine on heroin: ENO’s cold Bohème lacks heart

By Mark Pullinger, 16 October 2015

Despite some fine singing, Benedict Andrew's production of La bohème for English National Opera is devoid of heart.

**111

**111

London

16 Oct 2015

ENO’s Bohème: a heroine on heroin

By Mark Pullinger

London

An atmosphere filled with dust and testosterone: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

By Mark Pullinger, 20 May 2015

Calixto Bieito updates the Carmen to the final years of Franco’s dictatorship and in Joan Anton Rechi’s revival, the results are often gritty and fierce, if unlikely to do anything for the Spanish tourist trade.

***11

***11

London

20 May 2015

Carmen: An atmosphere filled with dust and testosterone

By Mark Pullinger

London

The power of love: Between Worlds at the Barbican

By Charlotte Valori, 11 April 2015

A new co-commissioned production from English National Opera and the Barbican sees Tansy Davies tackle the most harrrowing of modern subjects: 9/11.

*****

*****

London

11 Apr 2015

The power of love: Between Worlds at the Barbican

By Charlotte Valori

London

Strongly cast revival of McVicar’s Enlightenment production of Die Zauberflöte at Covent Garden

By Mark Pullinger, 23 February 2015

With its latest incarnation of Die Zauberflöte, the Royal Opera ticks all the boxes in a strongly cast revival.

****1

****1

London

23 Feb 2015

Strongly cast revival of Die Zauberflöte at the ROH

By Mark Pullinger

London

ENO unleash a North Sea storm with Peter Grimes

By David Karlin, 29 January 2014

In the revival of David Alden's Peter Grimes at English National Opera, the singing is excellent, the orchestral performance is out of the top drawer and the staging hardly puts a foot wrong.

*****

*****

London

29 Jan 2014

ENO: Peter Grimes

By David Karlin

London

Burlesque and bats: Christopher Alden reinvents Die Fledermaus for ENO

By David Karlin, 30 September 2013

This autumn is Strauss and Freud season in London: while the Royal Opera are showing Charles Edwards’s searingly Freudian take on Richard Strauss’s Elektra, ENO have opted for the polar opposite mood with Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus: Christopher Alden’s production is just as Viennese, just as laden with dreams and sexuality, but filled to the brim with gags and frivolous decadence.

****1

****1

London

30 Sep 2013

Burlesque and bats: Christopher Alden reinvents Die Fledermaus for ENO

By David Karlin

London

Sarah Connolly tops a stellar cast in ENO's production of Charpentier's Medea

By Julia Savage, 15 February 2013

When going to see a new production at ENO, always expect the unexpected. In ENO’s recent history, that has certainly been true, though not always to its credit. Friday’s opening performance of Charpentier’s Medea was no exception to the rule; however, in this case, it was an opulent, stylish and fabulous (in more than one sense) production, complemented by a truly spectacular cast.

****1

****1

London

15 Feb 2013

Sarah Connolly tops a stellar cast in ENO's production of Charpentier's Medea

By Julia Savage

London

Danger, sleaze, passion: Carmen re-imagined at ENO

By David Karlin, 21 November 2012

Carmen has always been in my head as a “pretty” opera: lovely tunes, colourful setting, exotically alluring gypsy brushing up against hunky bullfighter and handsome soldier - not exactly French Grand Opera, perhaps, but a far cry from gritty verismo.

***11

***11

London

21 Nov 2012

Danger, sleaze, passion: Carmen re-imagined at ENO

By David Karlin

London

The last revival: The Magic Flute at London Coliseum

By Julia Savage, 13 September 2012

The house was full for the opening night at the London Coliseum, and there were plenty of whoops for conductor Nicholas Collon as he made his ENO debut. This year marks the 25th anniversary of ENO's celebrated production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, and this revival – the fourteenth – will be the last.

****1

****1

London

13 Sep 2012

The last revival: The Magic Flute at London Coliseum

By Julia Savage