Carry on Cleo: Joélle Harvey triumphs at Glyndebourne

By Mark Pullinger, 11 June 2018

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“Her purity of line and ability to gently bend a note made “Se pietà” truly memorable”

Reviewed at Glyndebourne Opera House, Glyndebourne on 10 June 2018

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

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

William Christie, Conductor

Jonathan Cohen, Conductor

Sir David McVicar, Director

Robert Jones, Set Designer

Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Costume Designer

Dame Sarah Connolly, Giulio Cesare

Joélle Harvey, Cleopatra

Patricia Bardon, Cornelia

Anna Stéphany, Sesto

John Moore, Achilla

Kangmin Justin Kim, Nireno

Christophe Dumaux, Tolomeo

Harry Thatcher, Curio

Andrew George, Choreography

Paule Constable, Lighting Designer

The Glyndebourne Chorus

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Glyndebourne revives Michieletto’s Kátya Kabanová

Mark Valencia, 3rd August

Damiano Michieletto’s production of Janáček’s opera breaks a key tenet of high-concept opera: where it should reveal, it obfuscates.

***11

All the world’s a jest: Falstaff returns to Glyndebourne

Mark Pullinger, 23rd July

Richard Jones' 2009 production returns to Glyndebourne after a long absence, but the 1940s comedy scrubs up fresh.

***11

A strong new Figaro opens at Glyndebourne

Dominic Lowe, 29th June

Mariame Clément is a popular director at Glyndebourne, and her new production of Figaro shows her trademark approach to hardhitting comedy.

****1

Glyndebourne's Saul still packs a punch 10 years on

Nick Boston, 8th June

Returning from the original run, Christopher Purves and Iestyn Davies were joined by a strong cast and chorus for a revival of Barrie Kosky's striking production.

*****

Unhurried suspense in a very English Parsifal

Peter Quantrill, 17th May

Compelling singers carry the day in the Glyndebourne Festival Opera's first staging of Wagner’s swansong.

****1

Glyndebourne’s season opens with Rossini’s Barber of Seville

David Karlin, 16th May

Annabel Arden’s production provides joyous comedy, with vocal and orchestral performances of the very finest.

*****

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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.

Carry on Cleo: Joélle Harvey leads terrific revival of Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne