Billy Budd finally drops anchor again at The Royal Opera

By Mark Pullinger, 24 April 2019

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“Brindley Sherratt is outstanding as Claggart, his Credo oozing satanic blackness of voice”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 23 April 2019

Britten, Billy Budd

The Royal Opera

Ivor Bolton, Conductor

Deborah Warner, Director

Michael Levine, Set Designer

Chloe Obolensky, Costume Designer

Toby Spence, Captain Vere

Jacques Imbrailo, Billy Budd

Brindley Sherratt, John Claggart

Sam Furness, Novice

Christopher Gillett, Red Whiskers

Alasdair Elliott, Squeak

Alan Ewing, Bosun

Duncan Rock, Donald

Peter Kellner, Lieutenant Ratcliffe

Clive Bayley, Dansker

David Soar, Mr Flint

Thomas Oliemans, Mr Redburn

Dominic Sedgwick, Novice's Friend

Thomas Barnard, Arthur Jones

Konu Kim, Maintop

Ross Ramgobin, First Mate

Simon Wilding, Second Mate

Jean Kalman, Lighting Designer

Royal Opera Chorus

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

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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.