Dinner at Eight, William Bolcom and librettist Mark Campbell's 2017 opera, had its European première at Wexford Festival Opera on Saturday under conductor David Agler. The opera is based on the 1932 play by George S Kaufman and Edna Ferber, in turn adapted into a movie by George Cukor (1933).
Opera Holland Park starts its 2018 season with a bang (and a cough), offering a splendid new production of La traviata. Lauren Fagan is a sensational Violetta, but the production is a real company effort and achievement.
A tight production from Martin Lloyd-Evans together with a strong cast and loving treatment from conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren made a strong case for more regular performances of this neglected gem.
Opportunities to see Mascagni's Guglielmo Ratcliff come few and far between, mainly because the title role is an absolute killer for any tenor mad enough to attempt it. Step forward, Angelo Villari...
Opera Loki's stylish Victorian Rigoletto, one piano accompaniment and much grease-paint later, is an enjoyable and moving evening, though it doesn't quite get to the heart of Verdi's dark masterpiece.
Stephen Barlow’s staging of Puccini's Western is easy on the eye, if short on verismo. Susannah Glanville impresses as the barkeeper with a heart of gold.
In his wonderful BBC series on Italian opera, Antonio Pappano declared that "Puccini does love like no other composer," a phrase I've also heard from others.
