Edinburgh International Festival: Dido and Aeneas and Bluebeard's Castle

By Alan Coady, 27 August 2013

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Reviewed at Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh on 24 August 2013

Purcell, Dido and Aeneas

Bartók, Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Oper Frankfurt

Paula Murrihy, Dido

Kateryna Kasper, Belinda

Elizabeth Reiter, 2nd Woman

Martin Wölfel, Sorceress

Roland Schneider, 1st Enchantress

Dmitry Egorov, 2nd Enchantress

Peter Marsh, Sailor

Sebastian Geyer, Aeneas

Robert Hayward, Bluebeard

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Judith

It's party time onstage: Carl Nielsen's Maskarade at Oper Frankfurt

Kevin W Ng, 20th November

Carl Nielsen's Maskarade makes a welcome rare appearance, with a great time had by everyone onstage and off.

***11

Christof Loy’s Lonely Hearts Club at Oper Frankfurt

Mark Pullinger, 26th March

This is no Liederabend with singers taking their turn to file up to the piano. It’s a fully staged drama in which baritone Vladislav Sulimsky’s character reflects on his past loves and losses.

*****

Indomitable: Billy Budd in Frankfurt

Matthew Rye, 25th May

Oper Frankfurt's revival of Richard Jones's production of Billy Budd with a homegrown cast is a devastating combination of powerful music and searing drama.

*****

Words or music? Collaboration or resistance? A new Capriccio in Frankfurt

John Johnston, 24th January

Camilla Nylund’s rich, ample voice bloomed in the glorious setting of the sonnet, cosseted by burnished horn playing, in Strauss' unsurpassed operatic farewell to the soprano voice.

****1

Iain Paterson's Dutchman drops anchor in Frankfurt

John Johnston, 20th May

Iain Paterson's house debut as the Holländer was sufficient reason to drop anchor in the Main for this revival of David Bösch's 2015 production.

***11

A dark and stunning new Rigoletto

Ako Imamura, 28th April

Oper Frankfurt's new production of Rigoletto focuses on the dark side of the tragedy with excellent singing from the two principals.

****1

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Alan Coady

Alan has taught classical guitar in East Lothian schools since 1982. A graduate in Music of the then Huddersfield Polytechnic, he has a soft spot for the contemporary. He also writes a Musical Blog, where the special interest is the intersection of music/language/science.