Satan, sex, blood and redemption: Faust in Finland

By Roy Westbrook, 12 July 2018

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“this is not a production afraid of a cliché if it can work effectively in this unique space”

Reviewed at Olavinlinna Castle, Savonlinna on 11 July 2018

Gounod, Faust

Philippe Auguin, Conductor

Vilppu Kiljunen, Director

Kimmo Viskari, Set Designer

Tuuli Takala, Marguerite

Diego Silva, Faust

Tuomas Pursio, Méphistophélès

Tiina Penttinen, Marthe

Erica Back, Siebel

Clemens Unterreiner, Valentin

Jussi Merikanto, Wagner

Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir

Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra

King of the Castle: Verdi’s Macbeth in Savonlinna

Mark Pullinger, 4th July

Olavinlinna, also known as St Olaf's Castle, provides an atmospheric setting for Verdi's take on Shakespeare's “Scottish play”.

****1

Rautavaara's The Mine in Budapest

Katherine Syer, 21st October

Opening the weekend that marked the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, The Mine (A Bánya), the first of Rautavaara's nine operas, dramatizes events from those turbulent times.

****1

Murdering the customers, murdering the score

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 14th May

At the Estonian National Opera, Vilppu Kiljunen's staging of Hindemith's crime opera Cardillac is wonderfully eerie. Unfortunately, conductor Vello Pähn's reading of the score doesn't do it justice.

**111

At half mast: Simon Boccanegra revived in Vienna

Orsolya Gyárfás, 19th April

Marco Armiliato's conducting thrills and Federica Lombardi's radiant Amelia stands out in the Wiener Staatsoper's latest revival of Simon Boccanegra.

***11

Anna Netrebko shines in Vienna’s timeless Tosca

Laura Servidei, 18th April

In a world where opera productions often stray into the abstract, the Wiener Staatsoper’s Tosca offers a refreshing return to tradition – and Anna Netrebko delivers a splendid performance.

****1

Weinberg’s The Passenger at Dutch National Opera

Clare Varney, 17th April

Tobias Kratzer's 2024 Munich production makes its way to Amsterdam, proving that Weinberg's opera has the power to transfix.

****1

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Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.