Strictly Alcina: Handel as Fellini fantasy cabaret at Glyndebourne

Jane Archibald (Alcina)

Soraya Mafi (Morgana)

Samantha Hankey (Ruggiero) and dancers

The cast of Alcina

Soraya Mafi (Morgana) and Stuart Jackson (Oronte)

By Mark Pullinger, 03 July 2022

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“a racy headline in The Sun trumpets 'Ruggiero dumps wife'... it’s Love Island meets Strictly”

Reviewed at Glyndebourne Opera House, Glyndebourne on 2 July 2022

Handel, Alcina

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Jonathan Cohen, Conductor

Francesco Micheli, Director

Edoardo Sanchi, Set Designer

Alessio Rosati, Costume Designer

Bruno Poet, Lighting Designer

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Jane Archibald, Alcina

Beth Taylor, Bradamante

Samantha Hankey, Ruggiero

Soraya Mafi, Morgana

Rowan Pierce, Oberto

Stuart Jackson, Oronte

Alastair Miles, Melisso

James Cleverton, Baritone

Mike Ashcroft, Choreography

Glyndebourne revives Michieletto’s Kátya Kabanová

Mark Valencia, 3rd August

Damiano Michieletto’s production of Janáček’s opera breaks a key tenet of high-concept opera: where it should reveal, it obfuscates.

***11

All the world’s a jest: Falstaff returns to Glyndebourne

Mark Pullinger, 23rd July

Richard Jones' 2009 production returns to Glyndebourne after a long absence, but the 1940s comedy scrubs up fresh.

***11

A strong new Figaro opens at Glyndebourne

Dominic Lowe, 29th June

Mariame Clément is a popular director at Glyndebourne, and her new production of Figaro shows her trademark approach to hardhitting comedy.

****1

Glyndebourne's Saul still packs a punch 10 years on

Nick Boston, 8th June

Returning from the original run, Christopher Purves and Iestyn Davies were joined by a strong cast and chorus for a revival of Barrie Kosky's striking production.

*****

Unhurried suspense in a very English Parsifal

Peter Quantrill, 17th May

Compelling singers carry the day in the Glyndebourne Festival Opera's first staging of Wagner’s swansong.

****1

Glyndebourne’s season opens with Rossini’s Barber of Seville

David Karlin, 16th May

Annabel Arden’s production provides joyous comedy, with vocal and orchestral performances of the very finest.

*****

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.