Pharaonic spectacle: Aida in Moravia

By John Johnston, 11 April 2017

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“it soon became clear that the tragic pair would not go gently into the night”

Reviewed at Janáček Theatre (Janáčkovo divadlo), Brno on 10 April 2017

Verdi, Aida

Janáček Opera NTB

Jaroslav Kyzlink, Conductor

Václav Věžník, Director

Vladimír Soukenka, Set Designer

Josef Jelínek, Costume Designer

Veronika Hajnová, Amneris

Rafael Alvarez, Radamès

Richard Haan, Amonasro

Anda-Louise Bogza, Aida

Jiří Sulženko, Ramfis

Jan Šťáva, King of Egypt

Eternal life for the downtrodden? A Janáček double bill in Brno

Gianmarco Segato, 6th November

Jakub Hrůša leads a musically thrilling but dramatically problematic From the House of the Dead and Glagolitic Mass at the 2022 Janáček Brno International Festival.

****1

Miraculous Makropulos Case debuts in Asia

Carla Escoda, 25th February

National Theatre Brno brings David Radok’s 2014 staging of Janáček’s Makropulos Case to the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the opera's first-ever journey to Asia, with Annalena Persson in the lead.

****1

Jenůfa breaks hearts in Brno

David Karlin, 18th October

In Brno, Janáček's home, at the theatre and festival that bear his name, Jenůfa receives a performance with all the musical and dramatic intensity you might wish for.

****1

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Lepage’s Bluebeard and Erwartung pairing remains compelling theatre

John Gilks, 25th April

Some 30 years after its first appearance, Robert Lepage’s double bill of Duke Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung is still strikingly effective and very modern-looking music theatre.

*****

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John Johnston

John Johnston was a contributor to Bachtrack 2017-19. John was a true gentleman and lifelong opera "nut" who frequently travelled across Europe to catch performances, making regular pilgrimages to the Bayreuth Festival among others. His supreme knowledge and appreciation of voices meant he took to reviewing like the proverbial duck to water. We enjoyed his style and his insatiable appetite for catching rare operas and new productions wherever he could.