WNO's Figaro Gets a Divorce: a memorable night

By Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, 18 March 2016

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Reviewed at Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol on 17 March 2016

Langer, Figaro Gets a Divorce

Welsh National Opera

Justin Brown, Conductor

Sir David Pountney, Director

Ralph Koltai, Set Designer

Sue Blane, Costume Designer

David Stout, Figaro

Marie Arnet, Susanna

Mark Stone, Count

Elizabeth Watts, Countess

Naomi O'Connell, Serafin

Andrew Watts, The Cherub

Alan Oke, The Major

Rhian Lois, Angelica

Welsh National Opera Orchestra

Welsh National Opera Chorus

A magnificent Tosca from Welsh National Opera at the Mayflower

David Truslove, 3rd October

WNO imports Edward Dick’s exceptionally fine production, which benefits from from superb casting and outstanding performances led by Natalya Romaniw.

*****

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David Karlin, 11th August

Bancroft and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales provide a Mahler 3 of exceptional clarity and forward momentum, with terrific posthorn solos from Corey Morris and Beth Taylor an outstanding soloist.

****1

A dark and disturbing Rigoletto from WNO at the Mayflower

David Truslove, 14th November

Fine performances in a punchy new production that coats this tragic opera in a large dollop of debauchery.

****1

WNO stages Death in Venice for the first time and it’s a triumph

Mark Valencia, 7th March

Olivia Fuchs solves the problems of Britten's thorny opera in a brilliant new production that hits the heights, featuring Mark Le Brocq as earthbound scholar, Gustav von Aschenbach.

*****

Musical performances keep WNO's new Così afloat

Mark Valencia, 6th March

Max Hoehn takes Così‘s subtitle, La scuola degli amanti (The School for Lovers), and connects it to Monty Python’s sex education sketch in The Meaning of Life. What larks, eh?

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****1

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Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres is a Bristol-based film composer and classical electronic artist. Alexandra's passion in scoring and as a performer lie in the duality between the classical and electronica worlds, moving picture and her love for the piano. Her music has been described by The White Room Magazine as “majestic, at times monumental…the force and vastness of nature”.

WNO's Figaro Gets a Divorce: a memorable night in Bristol