Caligula slain in the Coliseum: A triumph for ENO

By Arthur Keegan-Bole, 28 May 2012

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Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 25 May 2012

Glanert, Caligula

English National Opera

Ryan Wigglesworth, Conductor

Benedict Andrews, Director

English National Opera Orchestra

English National Opera Chorus

Peter Coleman-Wright, Caligula

Yvonne Howard, Caesonia

Christopher Ainslie, Helicon

Pavlo Hunka, Cherea

Carolyn Dobbin, Scipio

Brian Galliford, Mucius

Eddie Wade, Mereia / Lepidus

Julia Sporsén, Livia

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

David Karlin, 16th February

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

Taken for a ride: an energetic revival of Così fan tutte at ENO

Dominic Lowe, 6th February

English National Opera's revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular production is a blend of spectacle with some first-class singing, with Lucy Crowe emphasising her Mozartian credentials.

****1

Cocteau-esque camp: Alden’s Partenope returns to ENO

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope returns to the Coliseum, but it's the singing that earns the plaudits.

****1

Dead Man Walking at English National Opera: a superb execution

David Karlin, 1st November

Anneliese Miskimmon's ENO production of Jake Heggie and Terence McNally's tale of crime, repentance, compassion and redemption compels from start to finish.

*****

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Nick Boston, 15th February

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

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Arthur Keegan-Bole

Arthur is a composer currently focusing on opera. His desire to promote contemporary music led him to set up and co-edit The Octogenarian, a light-hearted classical music review pamphlet distributed in Bristol and to curate the annual CMV series of concerts.