Britten's Curlew River opens Presteigne Festival

By Peter Reynolds, 27 August 2013

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Reviewed at St Andrew's Church, Presteigne on 22 August 2013

Beamish, Hagar in the Wilderness

Britten, Curlew River, church parable

Nova Music Opera

George Vass, Conductor

Mark Milhofer, Madwoman

Owen Gilhooly-Miles, Abraham

Christopher Foster, Traveller

Stephen Holloway, Abbot

Kirsty Hopkins, Hagar

Edmund Hastings, Gabriel

L'Orfeo, the world's first great opera, premieres at Glyndebourne

Roy Westbrook, 14th June

One element of the Orpheus myth is about creativity, so at Glyndebourne, William Kentridge sets Monteverdi's opera in an artist's studio,

****1

Aldeburgh Festival dives in at the deep end with Pelléas and Mélisande

Eleanor Knight, 12th June

Rory Kinnear directs a minimally semi-staged performance of Debussy's problematic opera at Snape Maltings, but Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish SO provide the detail.

****1

Monteverdi and Ulisse return happily to Garsington Opera

David Karlin, 12th June

Laurence Cummings and John Caird’s second Garsington exploration of the operas of Monteverdi brims with wonderfully playing and singing in an attractive setting.

****1

Darkness without passion: Damiano Michieletto’s Carmen at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 12th June

Despite Michieletto's visual gloom, the evening is redeemed by Myung-whun Chung’s masterful conducting and a cast that brings conviction to a production that rarely trusts the opera’s own dramatic power.

**111

A thrilling Slavic Iolanta from Chișinău

Peter Quantrill, 11th June

Young voices shine in Tchaikovsky's last opera in a new and rustic updating by Moldovan director Slava Sambriș.

****1

McVicar’s Figaro celebrates its 20th Royal Opera anniversary

Dominic Lowe, 8th June

While this revival is imperfect, the Cherubino of Svetlina Stoyanova proves a marvel to hear.

***11

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Peter Reynolds

Peter Reynolds was a composer and writer on music living in Cardiff. He was a part-time member of staff at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and, in 2009, published a history of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Very sadly he passed away on 11th October 2016.