WNO's Chorus leads Carmen at the Bristol Hippodrome

By Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, 14 November 2014

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Reviewed at Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol on 12 November 2014

Bizet, Carmen

Welsh National Opera

Erik Nielsen, Conductor

James Southall, Conductor

Patrice Caurier, Director

Unknown, Costume Designer

Christian Fenouillat, Set Designer

Jessica Muirhead, Micaëla

Alessandra Volpe, Carmen

Peter Wedd, Don José

Kostas Smoriginas, Escamillo

Amy Freston, Frasquita

Emma Carrington, Mercédès

Aidan Smith, Zuniga

Moshe Leiser, Director

Kirstin Chávez, Mezzo-soprano

Gwyn Hughes Jones, Tenor

Simon Thorpe, Baritone

Madeleine Shaw, Soprano

Samantha Hay, Soprano

A magnificent Tosca from Welsh National Opera at the Mayflower

David Truslove, 3rd October

WNO imports Edward Dick’s exceptionally fine production, which benefits from from superb casting and outstanding performances led by Natalya Romaniw.

*****

Bancroft and BBCNOW at the Proms: a deeply satisfying Mahler 3

David Karlin, 11th August

Bancroft and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales provide a Mahler 3 of exceptional clarity and forward momentum, with terrific posthorn solos from Corey Morris and Beth Taylor an outstanding soloist.

****1

A dark and disturbing Rigoletto from WNO at the Mayflower

David Truslove, 14th November

Fine performances in a punchy new production that coats this tragic opera in a large dollop of debauchery.

****1

WNO stages Death in Venice for the first time and it’s a triumph

Mark Valencia, 7th March

Olivia Fuchs solves the problems of Britten's thorny opera in a brilliant new production that hits the heights, featuring Mark Le Brocq as earthbound scholar, Gustav von Aschenbach.

*****

Musical performances keep WNO's new Così afloat

Mark Valencia, 6th March

Max Hoehn takes Così‘s subtitle, La scuola degli amanti (The School for Lovers), and connects it to Monty Python’s sex education sketch in The Meaning of Life. What larks, eh?

***11

Stacey Alleaume leads WNO's emotionally-charged Traviata

David Truslove, 24th November

Leading an international cast in a still-sumptuous revival in Southampton's Mayflower, Stacey Alleaume gives a sovereign performance as the ill-fated courtesan Violetta.

****1

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Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres is a Bristol-based film composer and classical electronic artist. Alexandra's passion in scoring and as a performer lie in the duality between the classical and electronica worlds, moving picture and her love for the piano. Her music has been described by The White Room Magazine as “majestic, at times monumental…the force and vastness of nature”.