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

Par Eleanor Knight, 14 juin 2026

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

Critique faite à Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, le 12 juin 2026

Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande

Ryan Wigglesworth, Direction

Rory Kinnear, Mise en scène

Vicki Mortimer, Décors

Paule Constable, Lumières

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, Un médecin

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.

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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.

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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.

Le retour d'un Rigoletto dramatique à l’Opéra de Marseille

Irma Foletti, 12th June

La reprise de la mise en scène de Charles Roubaud est une réussite, surtout pour ses trois rôles principaux, bien défendus par Sebastian Catana, John Osborn et Ruth Iniesta.

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Les vertiges de l'Agrippina de Robert Carsen à l'Opéra de Rouen

Arnaud Saura-Ziegelmeyer, 12th June

La production du metteur en scène canadien, créée au Theater an der Wien en 2016, fait l'objet d'une reprise toujours aussi convaincante, avec un plateau vocal remarquablement équilibré.

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Brundibár ou les couleurs de l'espoir à l'Opéra-Comique

Jean-Pierre Rousseau, 3rd June

Porté par une exemplaire et émouvante Maîtrise Populaire de l'Opéra-Comique, l'étonnant spectacle proposé en clôture de saison salle Favart atteint sa cible malgré des longueurs.

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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