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Gwyn Hughes Jones, Elizabeth Llewellyn and Sir Simon Keenlyside star in David Alden's setting of Otello in a militarised Cyprus.

A strong cast and a masterclass in Wagnerian conducting from Jakub Hrůša complement David Alden’s disturbing staging.

The combination of a strong, spirited cast and a first-rate orchestral performance led by Daniele Callegari rendered the opera a moving experience in spite of drab staging and latent, unexplored tensions.

It’s the sprig of nightshade on a blood-red confection.

Javier Camarena’s debut as Edgardo contributed to a triumphal night at the Teatro Real together with Lisette Oropesa’s charismatic Lucia and David Alden’s powerful staging.

David Alden’s new production for The Royal Opera, referencing fascist Germany, is drab, but there are musical compensations. 

Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda is perhaps most famous for a single and highly emotional scene in which two monarchs engage in a venomous confrontation. One is doomed to die. 

A flamboyant production and a wonderful cast of singers seals a big success for this gem of the early Baroque.

Lengthy but full of melodic invention, Semiramide finally made her triumphant return to the Royal Opera in David Alden's fine new production.

David Alden's staging of Alcina mines the rich theatricality of one of Handel's best-loved operas with enchanting but also perplexing results. 

The Rossini masterpiece is brought to life by an inspired conductor and four first-class singers in a new, modern production by David Alden.

Meyerbeer's little performed work is given an enthusiastic rendering, with star singing from a big cast led by Flórez, Ciofi and Jerkunica. David Alden's quality Personenregie makes up for some unconvincing setting choices.

A lacklustre season opening at Teatro Real proves once again the elusive nature of Verdi's masterpiece.

In Janáček's searing excoriation of small town social mores, superb orchestra, singing and acting make this revival of David Alden's Jenůfa into an unmissable evening of opera.

David Alden’s muddled clichés failed to convince all the time, but Edward Gardner steered us through a thrilling musical account of Tchaikovsky’s terrific opera.

“Beware, my Lord, of jealousy” warns Iago, planting the seed of doubt in Otello’s mind. Beware, too, the dangers of preconceptions. Keen anticipation of this new production of Verdi’s Otello was tempered by the prospect of David Alden as director.

Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Billy Budd, although musically satisfying, suffers through an ambiguously set production. 

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.

The new Netherlands Opera performance of Richard Wagner’s only comic opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was an absolute success. Spanning a daunting four-and-a-half hours, the evening kept us wanting more rather than searching for the clock.

Everything about the opening scene of this production set me on edge: centre-stage a hybrid bed on wheels, part crib part hospital, and propped up on it, peering through the bars, a young female, presumably Lucia. The set is a high-walled room, dingy white, plaster stained, paper peeling, with  a short door and elongated windows suggesting a surreal Alice-in-Wonderland distortion.

Verdi experts regularly name Un ballo in maschera to be one of his finest works. In spite of this, it’s never reached the heights of popularity of La Traviata or Rigoletto, so a new production by an acclaimed director for a major opera house is a notable event. We watched David Alden’s New York Ballo from the comfort of a London cinema under the Met’s Live in HD series.

Read our review of David Alden’s production of Verdi­'s Un Ballo in Maschera in its 2012 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York. 

For a taut drama about the relationships between men thrown together in an enclosed space, it's hard to imagine a better setting than the claustrophobic environment of a warship in Nelson's navy.

On Thursday night the DC opera fans gathered at the Washington National Opera for the opening night of David Alden’s production of Donizetti’s timeless tale of love and horror, Lucia di Lammermoor. It soon became obvious that the production presented to us was not the most conservative one.

Handel’s opera Radamisto received a welcome staging at the English National Opera last Thursday, following on from their successful productions of Agrippina and Partenope in recent years.

Depravación, lujuria y extravagancia se imponen en el Teatro Real de la mano de David Alden para mostrarnos la hermosa música de Cavalli.

Una producción redonda de David Alden que tiene en Patricia Racette y la dirección musical del maestro Josep Pons sus mejores credenciales.

L'Opéra de Flandre propose une nouvelle production du Lohengrin de Richard Wagner. Mise en scène sombre, très réussie, de David Alden.

Die russische Sopranistin weiß das Münchner Publikum vom ersten bis zum letzten Ton in der Wiederaufnahme von David Aldens Inszenierung zu fesseln.

Karina Gauvin y Christine Rice lideran el estreno escénico en Madrid de la obra maestra de Händel