Barbed wire and gruel in ENO’s Force of Destiny

By Mark Pullinger, 10 November 2015

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“the church offers no solace, only chains and a barbed wire crown of thorns”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 9 November 2015

Verdi, La forza del destino

English National Opera

Mark Wigglesworth, Conductor

Calixto Bieito, Director

Rebecca Ringst, Set Designer

Ingo Krügler, Costume Designer

Tamara Wilson, Leonora

Rinat Shaham, Preziosilla

Gwyn Hughes Jones, Don Alvaro

Anthony Michaels-Moore, Don Carlo

James Creswell, Padre Guardiano

Clare Presland, Curra

Adrian Dwyer, Trabuco

Andrew Shore, Fra Melitone

Nicholas Folwell, Alcade

Robert Winslade Anderson, Marquis of Calatrava

English National Opera Orchestra

English National Opera Chorus

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*****

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

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

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Barbed wire and gruel: cold comfort in ENO’s Force of Destiny