Bachtrack logo
What's on
All eventsConcertsOperaDanceKids eventsMasterclassesCompetitionsFestivals
Reviews
All reviewsConcert reviewsOpera reviewsDance reviews
Articles
All articlesFeaturesInterviewsOpinionPlaylists
News
Video
Video homeAll videoStreamed eventsConcertsOperaDanceKids eventsMasterclassesPublishers
Site
About usContact usLink to usConditions of useCookiesPrivacy
Young artists
Travel
EventsReviewsArticlesVideo

Revolutionary jungle fever: Verdi's Alzira staged at the Buxton Festival

By Mark Pullinger, 08 July 2018
Loading, please wait...
See full listing
“a rousing account of Verdi's score... with the requisite punch”
Reviewed at Buxton Opera House, Buxton on 7 July 2018
Programme
Verdi, Alzira
Performers
Buxton Festival Chorus
Stephen Barlow, Conductor
Elijah Moshinsky, Director
Russell Craig, Set Designer
Kate Ladner, Alzira
James Cleverton, Gusmano
Graeme Danby, Alvaro
Jung Soo Yun, Zamoro
Philip Wilcox, Ataliba
Helen Bailey, Zuma
Luke Sinclair, Otumbo
Brian McNamee, Ovando
Northern Chamber Orchestra
More Opera reviews
To be or not to be: Hamlet returns to the Buxton Festival
Mark Pullinger, 16th July
After 45 years, Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet returns to Buxton in a gripping, psychological staging by Jack Furness. 
****1
Buxton Festival celebrates 40th anniversary with Eugene Onegin
Robert Gainer, 6th July
Every July, Buxton’s charming opera house hosts an international festival of opera, literature and the arts. This year the festival opened with a strong familiar favourite, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
****1
Monsters of the mind: Idomeneo at the Buxton Festival
Mark Pullinger, 8th July
Stephen Medcalf directs a coherent staging of Mozart’s opera seria in which Idomeneo’s inner demons are to be battled. 
***11
Knives out in Verona: Capuleti at Buxton Festival
Dominic Lowe, 9th July
Stephanie Marshall's Romeo and Sarah-Jane Brandon's Giulietta make this production of Bellini's version of Romeo and Juliet utterly compelling.
****1
Humperdinck hobbled in Opera Australia revival
Jeremy Eccles, 27th January
Elijah Moshinsky’s 33-year-old production of Hansel and Gretel hasn’t aged well. 
***11
Exciting debut elevates Met Opera The Queen of Spades
Cameron Kelsall, 4th June
Galina Cheplakova steps in for Sonya Yoncheva in the penultimate performance of this revival, winning over the audience with vocal clarity and dramatic commitment. 
***11
More reviews...
Read reviews of
AlziraBuxton Festival ChorusElijah MoshinskyGiuseppe VerdiGraeme DanbyHelen BaileyJames ClevertonJung Soo YunKate LadnerLuke SinclairNorthern Chamber OrchestraPhilip WilcoxRussell CraigStephen Barlow
Related articles
Loading image...
The art of memory: classical music for mourning
Loading image...
Opera in the blood: Speranza Scappucci
Loading image...
Street-smart and subversive: Ailish Tynan talks Così fan tutte
Loading image...
Beyond the fever dream: Nadine Sierra reclaims her narrative
More by Mark Pullinger
Loading image...
Redemption and a musical caffeine shot: Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler 8 in Vienna
Loading image...
Bachtrack top ten: Shakespeare in music
Loading image...
Seconds out! Regents Opera’s Salome lands a knockout punch at York Hall
Loading image...
Elim Chan: from Sorcerer’s Apprentice to Proms Queen and beyond
Mark Pullinger
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.