Rossini's William Tell in fifty shades of grey

By Simon Rees, 16 September 2014

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Barry Banks took them like... hurdles at a point-to-point, sailing over them with grace and style”

Reviewed at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff on 12 September 2014

Rossini, Guillaume Tell (William Tell)

Welsh National Opera

Carlo Rizzi, Conductor

Sir David Pountney, Director

Marie-Jeanne Lecca, Costume Designer

Raimund Bauer, Set Designer

David Kempster, Guillaume Tell

Fflur Wyn, Jemmy

Camilla Roberts, Mathilde

Leah-Marian Jones, Hedwige

Barry Banks, Arnold Melchthal

Nicky Spence, Rodolphe

Luciano Botelho, Ruodi

Richard Wiegold, Melchthal senior

Clive Bayley, Gesler

Aidan Smith, Leuthold

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.

*****

Bancroft and BBCNOW at the Proms: a deeply satisfying Mahler 3

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?

***11

Stacey Alleaume leads WNO's emotionally-charged Traviata

David Truslove, 24th November

Leading an international cast in a still-sumptuous revival in Southampton's Mayflower, Stacey Alleaume gives a sovereign performance as the ill-fated courtesan Violetta.

****1

More reviews...

Simon Rees

Simon Rees writes programme articles and surtitles for most British opera companies, and reviews for Opera, Opera Now, Musical Opinion, Early Music Today and a wide range of other publications. A novelist, poet and librettist, from 1989 to 2012 he was dramaturg at Welsh National Opera. He lives in Cardiff.