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

Por Eleanor Knight, 14 junio 2026

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

Crítica hecha desde Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape el 12 junio 2026

Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande

Ryan Wigglesworth, Dirección

Rory Kinnear, Dirección de escena

Vicki Mortimer, Diseño de escena

Paule Constable, Diseño de iluminación

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, A Doctor

David Kennedy, Shepherd

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.

Magnífica Mané Galoyan en El Gato Montés de Christof Loy

Aaron Vincent, 10th June

La apuesta del Teatro de la Zarzuela por Christof Loy se revela acertada con una deslumbrante producción de El Gato Montés.

****1

Le nozze di Figaro en el Liceu no resulta para todos los paladares

Maria Sánchez, 5th June

Una propuesta pintoresca que acercaba y alejaba a partes iguales a los espectadores en la noche del estreno, donde brillaron por encima de todo Sara Blanch y Adriana González.

***11

Entre el oficio y el exceso: segundo reparto de Romeo y Julieta

Leonardo Mattana Ereño, 31st May

En la línea de la Grand opéra, Thomas Jolly propone una escena de gran impacto visual para Romeo y Julieta, pero que no termina de funcionar en conjunto.

***11

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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