Dido and Aeneas rescue a disappointing Baroque triple bill from ETO

By Jane Shuttleworth, 23 October 2018

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“the famous biting dissonances of Gesualdo’s harmonies were softened”

Reviewed at Durham Gala Theatre, Durham on 22 October 2018

Purcell, Dido and Aeneas

Carissimi, Jonas

Gesualdo, I will not speak

English Touring Opera

Jonathan Peter Kenny, Conductor

Sebastian Harcombe, Director

Bernadette Iglich, Director

Sky Ingram, Dido, Soprano

Nicholas Mogg, Aeneas, Baritone

Susanna Fairbairn, Belinda, Soprano

Frederick Long, Sorceress, Bass-baritone

Benjamin Williamson, Spirit, Countertenor

Alison Manifold, 2nd Woman, Soprano

Richard Dowling, Sailor, Tenor

Jorge Navarro Colorado, Tenor

English Touring Opera Orchestra

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

English Touring Opera transfers Donizetti to the English coast

Dominic Lowe, 27th September

L'elisir d'amore may not immediately bring Skegness or Romney to mind, but ETO's new production works quite well there... just look out for the seagulls!

***11

Blissful and hard-boiled: I Capuleti e i Montecchi at ETO

David Karlin, 22nd February

Eloise Lally shifts the Romeo and Juliet love story into New York mafia families. Jessica Cale and Samantha Price provide blissful bel canto as the star-crossed lovers.

****1

A tender Shakespeare-inspired curio from English Touring Opera

Susannah Moody, 15th February

ETO kicks off its spring season with What Dreams May Come, a strange and moving staging of songs inspired by William Shakespeare.

***11

Theatrically poverty-stricken: ETO's Blond Eckbert

Mark Valencia, 18th October

Judith Weir's cryptic folk opera lacks the narrative propulsion necessary to enthral an audience, and without resolution there is no catharsis.

**111

ETO's The Snowmaiden melts the heart and gladdens the ears

Dominic Lowe, 28th September

Olivia Fuchs' production of Rimsky-Korsakov's charming fable for ETO begins its tour in Hackney and is worth travelling to see. Catch this thoughtful production in a town near you.

****1

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Jane Shuttleworth

Jane Shuttleworth is a choral singer and recorder player, and specialises in Renaissance, baroque and modern music. She lives in Durham and runs a local music listings, news and reviews site Music in Durham