Disappointing Dialogues des Carmélites

By Mark Valencia, 27 February 2018

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“Claire Lees crafted Soeur Constance as a naïve optimist”

Reviewed at Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Silk Street Theatre, London on 26 February 2018

Poulenc, Dialogues des Carmélites

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Dominic Wheeler, Conductor

Martin Lloyd-Evans, Director

takis, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Lucy Anderson, Blanche de la Force

Michelle Alexander, Madame Lidoine, the new prioress

Claire Lees, Sœur Constance

Lucy McAuley, Sœur Mathilde

Georgia Mae Bishop, Mère Jeanne, Madame de Croissy, the prioress

Chloe Latchmore, Mère Marie

Eduardo Mas Bacardit, Le Père confesseur

Daniel Mullaney, Chevalier de la Force

MIchael Vickers, Marquis de la Force

Bertie Watson, 2ème commissaire, Gaoler, Javelinot, Thierry

Jake Muffett, Officer

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra

Robbie Butler, Lighting Designer

Respighi’s Lucrezia compels in Guildhall School’s double bill

Dominic Lowe, 3rd November

Pleas for more Respighi operas are answered as the students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama give the UK premiere of Lucrezia, paired with Ethel Smyth's Der Wald.

****1

Sacred and profane in Guildhall School's Respighi double bill

Susannah Moody, 6th November

From the spiritual conversion of a Medieval sex-worker, to the Sleeping Beauty tale reimagined, Guildhall stages a Respighi double-bill.

***11

Holst and Weir operas from the Guildhall School of Music

David Truslove, 5th June

Two accomplished performances bring emotional depth only intermittently, but show ample security of singing and playing.

***11

Dead Man Walking given a triumphant staging by Guildhall School

Mark Valencia, 27th February

Under Dominic Wheeler’s expert baton the musicians, all youthful if not downright young, give a spectacular account of a harrowing score.

****1

Picture perfect: a fine triple bill from the Guildhall School

Dominic Lowe, 11th November

Massenet, Smyth and Rota are unlikely bedfellows, but in the Guildhall School's Autumn production, a one-act opera by each contributed to a most convincing triple bill, all set around the La Scala Picturehouse in the 1920s.

****1

Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon outshines Bizet at Guildhall School

David Karlin, 1st November

A double bill of French operettas shows Guildhall students to advantage as well as providing an introduction to Viardot that's well worth the trip.

***11

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Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

Disappointing Dialogues des Carmélites at Guildhall School