Performer: Hasmik Torosyan

New National Theatre Tokyo's new staging of Donizetti's jolly Don Pasquale, in Stefano Vizioli's classic production, featured some sparkling vocal performances from a fine cast.

The staging sways between tackiness and naivety, like those old Christmas cards with sequins glued to the edges of the figures.

Commissioned as an operetta, La rondine became a true opera instead, and was presented in 1917 in Montecarlo at the high point of WW1.

In Livermore's staging the scheme becomes meta-cinematographic: the poet Prosdocimus here has Marcello Mastroianni's features in Fellini's film 8 ½.

Robert Carsen's understated elegance on stage counterbalances Puccini’s highly charged melodrama. 

Ambiance recueillie pour cette Petite Messe de Rossini où brillent un quatuor vocal de grande qualité et un excellent pianiste. Chœurs et chef superlatifs !