Caesar conquers Buxton: ETO's slimmed-down Giulio Cesare

Francis Gush (Giulio Cesare)

Carolyn Dobbin (Cornelia) and Margo Arsane (Sesto)

Francis Gush (Giulio Cesare) and Susanna Hurrell (Cleopatra)

Susanna Hurrell (Cleopatra) and Francis Gush (Giulio Cesare)

By Sarah Noble, 13 May 2023

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“Susanna Hurrell... beguiling queen, utterly convincing as both political operator and love interest”

Reviewed at Buxton Opera House, Buxton on 11 May 2023

Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, (Julius Caesar in Egypt) HWV 17

English Touring Opera

Sergey Rybin, Conductor

James Conway, Director

Cordelia Chisholm, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Old Street Band

Susanna Hurrell, Cleopatra

Carolyn Dobbin, Cornelia

Francis Gush, Giulio Cesare

Margo Arsane, Sesto

Edward Hawkins, Achilla

Edward Jowle, Curio

Kieron-Connor Valentine, Nireno

Alexander Chance, Tolomeo

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

English Touring Opera transfers Donizetti to the English coast

Dominic Lowe, 27th September

L'elisir d'amore may not immediately bring Skegness or Romney to mind, but ETO's new production works quite well there... just look out for the seagulls!

***11

Blissful and hard-boiled: I Capuleti e i Montecchi at ETO

David Karlin, 22nd February

Eloise Lally shifts the Romeo and Juliet love story into New York mafia families. Jessica Cale and Samantha Price provide blissful bel canto as the star-crossed lovers.

****1

A tender Shakespeare-inspired curio from English Touring Opera

Susannah Moody, 15th February

ETO kicks off its spring season with What Dreams May Come, a strange and moving staging of songs inspired by William Shakespeare.

***11

Theatrically poverty-stricken: ETO's Blond Eckbert

Mark Valencia, 18th October

Judith Weir's cryptic folk opera lacks the narrative propulsion necessary to enthral an audience, and without resolution there is no catharsis.

**111

ETO's The Snowmaiden melts the heart and gladdens the ears

Dominic Lowe, 28th September

Olivia Fuchs' production of Rimsky-Korsakov's charming fable for ETO begins its tour in Hackney and is worth travelling to see. Catch this thoughtful production in a town near you.

****1

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Sarah Noble

Originally from New Zealand, Sarah Noble is an arts administrator and freelance writer whose articles and reviews have appeared in Limelight, Opera, NZ Opera News and The Opera Critic. After stints in Sydney, Orlando, London and Manchester, she's now based in Macclesfield but travels frequently in pursuit of live performance – operatic and otherwise. Sarah was previously the producer of the International Opera Awards and now works as production co-ordinator for a classical music filming company.

Caesar conquers Buxton: ETO's slimmed-down Giulio Cesare strikes just the right note