A meticulous musical makeover in Riga

By Jonathan Sutherland, 11 July 2017

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“Elīna Šimkus sang a musically mellifluous and dramatically convincing Carthaginian queen”

Reviewed at St Peter’s Church, Riga on 7 July 2017

Purcell, Dido and Aeneas

Coin du Roi

Christian Frattima, Conductor

Marco Bellussi, Director

Elīna Šimkus, Dido

Giulio Alvise Caselli, Aeneas

Anna Chierichetti, Belinda

Milena Storti, Sorceress

Riccardo Botta, Sailor

Orchestra Coin du Roi

Coin du Roi’s Serse in Milan's Teatro Litta

Courtney Smith, 29th May

"Grab ’em by the throat and never let ’em go!" goes the famous quote by legendary Hollywood director Billy Wilder – Sunset Boulevard, Some like it Hot, and Double Indemnity among his masterpieces – who regularly dispensed stellar advice to aspiring, young writers. Unlike good screenwriting, opera’s blood and thunder decree doesn’t need much coaching to bare its jugular.

***11

The triumph of virtue: Rossini’s Cenerentola in Brisbane

Sandra Bowdler, 29th April

Margarita Gritskova leads a fine ensemble performance of Rossini’s most under-appreciated opera by Opera Queensland.

****1

Grigolo shines in a mixed new Roméo et Juliette at the Opera di Roma

Pia Maltri, 28th April

With its 1940s setting, Luca Del Fusco’s direction alienates in a new production of Gounod's Shakespeare-inspired opera.

***11

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Wretches like us: the LPO’s concert Wozzeck cuts to the quick

Peter Quantrill, 25th April

Beautifully prepared singing and playing brings out the tender side to Berg's modernist classic as part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

****1

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Jonathan Sutherland

Jonathan Sutherland is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is also an internationally renowned concert pianist specializing in the music of the 1930s. Jonathan’s first operatic experience was hearing Maria Callas sing Tosca in Covent Garden and he has since heard performances in all continents of the world including over 60 different productions at the Wiener Staatsoper. He has written for The Australian, Opera Today and The Opera Critic as well as Bachtrack. Jonathan speaks English, French, German and Italian fluently and is based in the south of France near Nice.

Dido and Aeneas enjoys a meticulous musical makeover from Christian Frattima in Riga