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Italian swagger and French farce combining to raise some much needed laughs despite the restrictions of a concert performance at Cadogan Hall.

Rarely performed, Verdi's fifth opera Ernani is full of fiery passions, with a relentless flow of melodic invention, as heard in this concert performance by Chelsea Opera Group. 

Chelsea Opera Group presents the strongest case imaginable for Massenet’s Le Roi de Lahore, with Michael Spyres, no less, as the King. 

Alzira, Verdi’s eighth opera, is something of a discarded child within his canon, not least because of Verdi’s own dismissal of it as “proprio brutta” (really ugly) after it was poorly received both in Naples and Rome. Perhaps Verdi was stung by a blot on an otherwise successful career: on the basis of last night’s concert performance by Chelsea Opera Group, the score has plenty to commend it.