Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | David Stout

Barbe and Doucet's stylish Don Pasquale is a comic delight at Scottish Opera

By David Smythe, 12 October 2024

Barbe and Doucet’s witty 1960s Don Pasquale is revived for Scottish Opera, with Stuart Stratford conducting a fine cast.

****1

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Glasgow

12 Oct 2024

Barbe and Doucet's stylish Don Pasquale is a comic delight

By David Smythe

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McBurney's delightfully batty Magic Flute returns to the Coliseum

By Susannah Moody, 28 February 2024

English National Opera brings back Simon McBurney's theatre of wonders for this Mozart classic.

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London

28 Feb 2024

McBurney's delightfully batty Magic Flute returns to the Coliseum

By Susannah Moody

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Scottish Barber of Seville packed with fun

By David Smythe, 17 October 2023

Sir Thomas Allen returns to Scottish Opera to revive The Barber of Seville with a strong cast headed by Samuel Dale Johnson, Anthony Gregory, David Stout and Simone McIntosh.

****1

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Glasgow

17 Oct 2023

Scottish Barber of Seville packed with fun

By David Smythe

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West Horsley

Death-devoted duo: a superb new Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park Opera

By Roy Westbrook, 08 June 2023

Charles Edwards' ambitious production is well served by a strong cast as Grange Park Opera opens its season in the Theatre in the Woods.

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West Horsley

08 Jun 2023

Death-devoted duo: a superb Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park Opera

By Roy Westbrook

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Beware of what you wish for: The Makropulos Affair at Welsh National Opera

By David Karlin, 16 September 2022

Olivia Fuchs gives a powerful staging of Janáček's morality tale of the perils of eternal youth, with an excellent cast, but there are reservations about the title role.

****1

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Cardiff

16 Sep 2022

Beware of what you wish for: The Makropulos Affair at WNO

By David Karlin

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West Horsley

Into the lion's mouth: Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Grange Park Opera

By Mark Pullinger, 11 June 2022

No hippos in tutus for The Dance of the Hours, but panto frolics abound in Stephen Madcalf's staging in the idyllic Theatre in the Woods.

***11

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West Horsley

11 Jun 2022

Into the lion's mouth: Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Grange Park Opera

By Mark Pullinger

After 20 years, Jenůfa makes a triumphant return to Covent Garden

By David Karlin, 28 September 2021

Guth's intelligent production comes with a Karita Mattila masterclass and an outstanding cast, intense to the point of pain.

*****

*****

London

28 Sep 2021

Jenůfa makes a triumphant return to Covent Garden

By David Karlin

Stylish, powerful Nixon in China from Scottish Opera

By David Smythe, 22 February 2020

Scottish Opera’s Nixon in China in a stylish, living history production from John Fulljames, with strong performances across the board, Joana Carneiro stoking the fires in the pit.

****1

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Glasgow

22 Feb 2020

Stylish, powerful Nixon in China from Scottish Opera

By David Smythe

War and Peace: Welsh National Opera comes to London to parade its wares

By Mark Valencia, 23 July 2019

It’s a small miracle that the production has been recreated so well in such a short time frame.

****1

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London

23 Jul 2019

War and Peace: WNO comes to London to parade its wares

By Mark Valencia

Roberto Alagna brings up his century at The Royal Opera in Andrea Chénier revival

By Mark Pullinger, 20 May 2019

The French-Sicilian tenor shines in Sir David's McVicar's pristine take on Umberto Giordano's slice of verismo.

***11

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London

20 May 2019

Roberto Alagna brings up his century at The Royal Opera

By Mark Pullinger

Amsterdam

Ravishment without drama in Dutch premiere of A Village Romeo and Juliet

By Jenny Camilleri, 15 December 2018

Gorgeous playing under Sir Mark Elder wasn’t enough to mask the lack of theatrical drive in the scrupulously cast Dutch premiere of Delius’ most successful opera.

***11

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Amsterdam

15 Dec 2018

The Dutch premiere of A Village Romeo and Juliet

By Jenny Camilleri

Ferocious intensity: David Pountney's new War and Peace at Welsh National Opera

By Rohan Shotton, 15 September 2018

WNO make a compelling case for Prokofiev's gargantuan War and Peace.

*****

*****

Cardiff

15 Sep 2018

Ferocious intensity: Pountney's new War and Peace at WNO

By Rohan Shotton

A thrilling Don Giovanni at Welsh National Opera

By Benjamin Poore, 22 February 2018

A strong cast take us to the brink of damnation in Welsh National Opera’s revival of Don Giovanni.

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Cardiff

22 Feb 2018

A thrilling Don Giovanni at Welsh National Opera

By Benjamin Poore

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.

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Geneva

14 Sep 2017

Elena Langer's Figaro Gets a Divorce shines in Geneva

By Elodie Olson-Coons

Scottish Opera’s detailed La bohème bursts with joie de vivre

By David Smythe, 20 May 2017

Renaud Doucet and André Barbe’s La bohème for Scottish Opera set in the jazz-age is packed with Parisian life.

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Glasgow

20 May 2017

Bohème bursts with joie de vivre

By David Smythe

Manchester

A 24-carat Rheingold as the Hallé continues its Ring quest

By Richard Ely, 27 November 2016

The Hallé's oddly-ordered Ring arrives at the beginning with Das Rheingold.

*****

*****

Manchester

27 Nov 2016

A 24 carat Rheingold from the Hallé

By Richard Ely

Birmingham

April Fredrick astonishes in world première of Joubert's Jane Eyre

By Pamela Nash, 25 October 2016

John Joubert's opera setting of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece received its long-awaited world premiere by the English Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Kenneth Woods, with a luminous central performance by soprano April Fredrick.

*****

*****

Birmingham

25 Oct 2016

World première of Joubert's Jane Eyre

By Pamela Nash

All that glitters: Tchaikowsky's The Merchant of Venice staged by Welsh National Opera

By Simon Rees, 16 September 2016

André Tchaikowsky's version of The Merchant of Venice combines his love of Shakespeare with his recollections of a harsh childhood as a Jew in the Warsaw Ghetto.

***11

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Cardiff

16 Sep 2016

All that glitters: WNO stages The Merchant of Venice

By Simon Rees

Alresford

The Inquisition's dark days: Don Carlo at Grange Park

By David Karlin, 18 June 2016

Strong vocal and orchestral performances and a tour-de-force staging of Act II light up Grange Park's production of Verdi's political thriller of the dark days of the Spanish inquisition.

****1

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Alresford

18 Jun 2016

The Inquisition's dark days: Don Carlo at Grange Park

By David Karlin

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

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Bristol

17 Mar 2016

WNO's Figaro Gets a Divorce: a memorable night

By Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

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

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Cardiff

20 Feb 2016

Strong performances in WNO's Marriage of Figaro

By Rohan Shotton

Leoncavallo's Zazà: another successful Opera Rara excavation

By David Karlin, 27 November 2015

In spite of the not insignificant problems, Opera Rara are utterly convincing that Leoncavallo's Zazà is a work that should be seen and heard more often.

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London

27 Nov 2015

Zazà: another successful Opera Rara excavation

By David Karlin

Wexford

Ivory Gothic madness: a visceral Guglielmo Ratcliff in Wexford

By Mark Pullinger, 22 October 2015

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...

*****

*****

Wexford

22 Oct 2015

Ivory Gothic madness: a visceral Guglielmo Ratcliff

By Mark Pullinger

Moreton-in-Marsh

Susanna Hurrell shines at Longborough's Don Pasquale

By Robert Gainer, 03 July 2015

Longborough Festival Opera have opted for Donizetti for the first time, with Don Pasquale. How successful would the cast be at unleashing the ‘feel-good factor’ of opera buffa?

***11

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Moreton-in-Marsh

03 Jul 2015

Longborough's Don Pasquale

By Robert Gainer

Iain Paterson and Edward Gardner lead a top quality rendering of Wagner's Meistersinger for ENO

By David Karlin, 07 February 2015

With ENO having been in the news for all the wrong reasons last week, it needed Richard Jones' The Mastersingers of Nuremberg to be a great production. Lit up by a towering performance by Iain Paterson, it is.

*****

*****

London

07 Feb 2015

A top quality rendering of Wagner's Meistersinger

By David Karlin

A fabulous Figaro from Fiona Shaw for English National Opera

By Charlotte Valori, 16 October 2014

Full of physical comedy, joyous and enthusiastic, Fiona Shaw's vision of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro makes the most of its taut and energetic plotlines, intense charactisation and beautifully balanced music.

****1

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London

16 Oct 2014

A fabulous Figaro at ENO

By Charlotte Valori

Not for beginners: Christopher Alden's Rigoletto at ENO

By David Karlin, 13 February 2014

Last night’s opening of Christopher Alden’s allusive, conceptual Rigoletto for ENO, a co-production with Canadian Opera Company, was a notable event for London opera. Musically, ENO have been on top of their game this season and last night was no exception.

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London

13 Feb 2014

ENO: Rigoletto

By David Karlin

A miraculous Wagner Dream from Welsh National Opera

By Paul Kilbey, 06 June 2013

Miraculous as Jonathan Harvey’s music is, it seems reductive to call Wagner Dream an opera. Half the cast, after all, don’t even sing, but act: it’s a sincere meeting of music and theatre in a way that opera usually isn’t.

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Cardiff

06 Jun 2013

A miraculous Wagner Dream from Welsh National Opera

By Paul Kilbey

Manchester

A glowing Meistersinger in Manchester

By Rohan Shotton, 10 February 2013

Few things could unite such a large group of people as the Hallé’s Meistersinger did tonight. Some 515 performers, drawn from three orchestras and five choirs, gathered to present highlights from the first two acts of Wagner’s opera and the third act in full.

*****

*****

Manchester

10 Feb 2013

A glowing Meistersinger in Manchester

By Rohan Shotton

Jonathan Miller's Mikado returns to English National Opera

By Emily Owen, 01 December 2012

Jonathan Miller and ENO’s iconic interpretation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado has returned to the London Coliseum this Christmas, to the delight of G&S fans across the capital, including myself.

****1

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London

01 Dec 2012

Jonathan Miller's Mikado returns to English National Opera

By Emily Owen