Roberto Alagna brings up his century at The Royal Opera

By Mark Pullinger, 21 May 2019

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“McVicar offers us a picturesque Ladybird Book of the French Revolution. It never feels real.”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 20 May 2019

Giordano, Andrea Chénier

The Royal Opera

Daniel Oren, Conductor

Sir David McVicar, Director

Robert Jones, Set Designer

Jenny Tiramani, Costume Designer

Roberto Alagna, Andrea Chénier

Sondra Radvanovsky, Maddalena de Coigny

Dimitri Platanias, Carlo Gérard

Rosalind Plowright, La comtesse de Coigny

Christine Rice, Bersi

Stephen Gadd, Pietro Fléville

Adrian Clarke, Mathieu

Aled Hall, The Abbé

Carlo Bosi, L'Incredible

David Stout, Roucher

Jeremy White, Schmidt

Elena Zilio, Madelon

Eddie Wade, Fouquier-Tinville

Germán Enrique Alcántara, Dumas

John Cunningham, Major-Domo

Royal Opera Chorus

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Siegfried at the RBO: Kosky and Pappano surprise and delight

David Karlin, 17th March

A revelatory orchestral performance and a cast led by Andreas Schager, Christopher Maltman and Elisabeth Strid make this a Siegfried for the record books.

*****

Terfel’s craggy Boris Godunov returns to Covent Garden

Mark Pullinger, 29th January

The second revival of Richard Jones' staging of Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of Boris Godunov once again stars the Welsh knight.

****1

Ermonela Jaho returns in triumph to The Royal Opera’s Traviata

Mark Valencia, 8th January

Richard Eyre’s 32-year-old production is rarely out of The Royal Opera’s repertoire for more than a few months at a time, but this particular revival proves very special.

*****

Turandot drowned in an orchestral tsunami at The Royal Opera

David Karlin, 15th December

Andrei Șerban’s 40 year old take on Puccini's tale of the ice princess largely stands the test of time, but Netrebko and Eyvazov are short of their best form.

***11

Handel’s Ariodante returns home to Covent Garden

Roy Westbrook, 9th December

Jetske Mijnssen’s house debut sees Handel’s opera transposed to a modern-day palace, with Emily D'Angelo angelic in the title role.

****1

The Royal Opera stages its first Makropulos Case

Mark Valencia, 4th November

Katie Mitchell wheels out her tired old tropes in The Makropulos Case, redeemed by its musical performances.

***11

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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.

Roberto Alagna brings up his century at The Royal Opera in Andrea Chénier revival