Bringing Spanish heat to an operatic double-bill

By Dominic Lowe, 21 January 2018

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“a febrile and bloody plot that feels like Catalan verismo”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 19 January 2018

Falla, El amor brujo

Granados, Goyescas, Op.11

Josep Pons, Conductor

María Toledo, Flamenco singer

Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Soprano

Gustavo Peña, Tenor

Lidia Vinyes Curtis, Mezzo-soprano

José Antonio López, Baritone

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Tavener's Krishna fails to convince in world premiere

Nick Boston, 4th June

John Tavener's “mystical pantomime” proves a disappointment, despite strong performances from singers and orchestra in David Pountney's production.

***11

Jetske Mijnssen's Boccanegra a coup for DNO season finale

Eleanor Knight, 4th June

Everything about this production is fresh and wonderful.

*****

Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante wins hearts at the Opéra de Paris

David Karlin, 2nd June

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

****1

Chasing the American Dream: UK premiere for Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up

Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre.

****1

Longborough Festival Opera season starts slow with Orlando

Eleanor Knight, 30th May

Beth Taylor gives the lows and highs of Handel's heroics an almighty, whole-body shakedown in Sinéad O'Neill’s new staging of Handel's Orlando.

***11

Viennese splendour in Garsington’s Rosenkavalier revival

Roy Westbrook, 28th May

Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast.

****1

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Dominic Lowe

Dominic Lowe recently completed a degree in Classics, and one of his great interests is the reception of Greece and Rome in opera. A regular opera-goer since his very early teens, he is particularly keen on the hidden operatic gems of the 19th century. He is largely based in the South of England.

Josep Pons and the BBCSO bring Spanish heat to an operatic double-bill