Grand Théâtre: The House Taken Over

By Fernando Remiro, 09 February 2014

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Reviewed at Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg on 6 February 2014

Mendonça, The House Taken Over

Etienne Siebens, Conductor

Katie Mitchell, Director

Het Muziek (formerly Asko|Schönberg)

Oliver Dunn, Baritone

Kitty Whately, Mezzo-soprano

James Longford, Piano

The Royal Opera stages its first Makropulos Case

Mark Valencia, 4th November

Katie Mitchell wheels out her tired old tropes in The Makropulos Case, redeemed by its musical performances.

***11

Nadine Sierra leads a musically formidable Lucia di Lammermoor

Mark Valencia, 19th April

Katie Mitchell's provocative staging is revived to great effect, elevated by glorious music-making led by Nadine Sierra's sensational Lucia.

****1

272 years on, Handel's Theodora comes home to Covent Garden

David Karlin, 31st January

Superb singing from Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński lights up a curate's egg staging from Katie Mitchell.

***11

Royal Opera's A New Dark Age is a powerful cantata for our time

Jenny Camilleri, 24th October

The Royal Opera House responds to current global turmoil with a double bill by four women composers. Baritone Peter Brathwaite delivers a tour de force in The Knife of Dawn and A New Dark Age is a powerful emotional journey.

***11

Less than the sum of its parts: Zauberland at the Linbury

David Karlin, 15th October

Fine performances by Julia Bullock and Cédric Tiberghien can't make up for the confusion of a fragmented, allusive narrative.

**111

“Soap opera at its best”: Katie Mitchell's Jenůfa

Nicolas Nguyen, 6th October

Katie Mitchell's second production of Jenůfa is a straightforward, effective reading of the libretto well supported by excellent singing actors.

****1

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Fernando Remiro

Fernando studied history and political science. He is passionate about opera and lied, a devoted fan of Benjamin Britten, and a lover of challenging stage productions. He wrote opera reviews for the Spanish musical magazine Ritmo and tweets about opera at @operatweets.

The House Taken Over in Luxembourg: Echoes of Cortázar in Vasco Mendonca's new opera