Second Elizabethan age receives a noble tribute in ENO's Gloriana

Paula Murrihy (Frances) and Christine Rice (Elizabeth I)

Christine Rice (Elizabeth I)

Robert Murray (Robert Devereux)

By Roy Westbrook, 09 December 2022

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“few productions can have had such strength in depth in the cast”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 8 December 2022

Britten, Gloriana (Concert performance)

English National Opera

Martyn Brabbins, Conductor

English National Opera Orchestra

English National Opera Chorus

Christine Rice, Elizabeth I

Robert Murray, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex

Paula Murrihy, Frances, Countess of Essex

Duncan Rock, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy

Sophie Bevan, Penelope, Lady Rich

Charles Rice, Sir Robert Cecil

David Soar, Sir Walter Raleigh

Alex Otterburn, Henry Cuffe

Alexandra Oomens, A Lady-in-Waiting

Claire Barnett-Jones, A Housewife

Innocent Masuku, The Spirit of the Masque

Sir Willard White, A blind ballad singer

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Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.

The second Elizabethan age receives a noble tribute from the first in ENO's Gloriana