Keep calm and carry on singing

By Matthew Rye, 26 June 2017

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“a gorgeous bloom at the top matched to a sonorous, mezzo-ish middle and smoky low register”

Reviewed at Glyndebourne Opera House, Glyndebourne on 25 June 2017

Strauss R., Ariadne auf Naxos

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Cornelius Meister, Conductor

Katharina Thoma, Director

Julia Müer, Set Designer

Irina Bartels, Costume Designer

Lise Davidsen, The Primadonna (Ariadne)

Erin Morley, Zerbinetta

Angela Brower, Composer

AJ Glueckert, The Tenor (Bacchus)

Sir Thomas Allen, Music Master

Michael Laurenz, Dancing Master

Manuel Günther, Brighella

François Piolino, Scaramuccio

Björn Bürger, Harlequin

Daniel Mirosław, Truffaldino

London Philharmonic Orchestra

A deli-cious revival of Rossini’s Il turco in Italia at Glyndebourne

Dominic Lowe, 23rd May

Mariame Clément’s production of Rossini's meta comedy is tightly revived with some excellent singing. Come for the writing tips, stay for the cured meats.

****1

Glyndebourne’s first Tosca: vocally strong but imperfect

David Karlin, 21st May

Ted Huffman brings some interesting ideas to his first Glyndebourne production. Excellent singing is let down by indifferent physical acting.

***11

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.

*****

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).

Keep calm and carry on singing: love and art overcome wartime adversity in Glyndebourne’s Ariadne