A dystopian Hansel und Gretel at the RAM

Anna-Helena Maclachlan (Hansel) and Binny Supin Yang (Gretel)

Konstantinos Akritidis (Witch)

Conrad Chatterton (Father), Ella Oharek-Coddington (Mother) and Binny Supin Yang (Gretel)

Binny Supin Yang (Gretel)

By Mark Valencia, 21 November 2024

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“a company without a weak link”

Reviewed at Royal Academy of Music: Susie Sainsbury Theatre, London on 20 November 2024

Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel (arr. Derek Clarke)

Royal Academy Opera

Johann Stuckenbruck, Conductor

Jack Furness, Director

Alex Berry, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Ben Ormerod, Lighting Designer

Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra

Anna-Helena Maclachlan, Hänsel

Binny Supin Yang, Gretel

Konstantinos Akritidis, Witch

Conrad Chatterton, Peter / Father

Ella Oharek-Coddington, Gertrude / Mother

Caroline Blair, Dew Fairy

Grace Hope-Gill, Sandman

The Royal Academy's Carmen has too many what-if moments

Dominic Lowe, 18th November

Presenting a work like Carmen is a punchy move by a conservatoire. The Royal Academy of Music's production has conceptual weaknesses, but features some good singing.

***11

Royal Academy Opera stages a magical Zauberflöte

Mark Valencia, 18th March

A lyrical yet zesty account of Mozart's' adorable score, in a production that is on the nose and off the wall.

****1

Keeping it surreal: Martinů double-bill at the Royal Academy of Music

Dominic Lowe, 8th May

With typical spirit, the students at the Royal Academy of Music did an excellent job in bringing Martinů’s Comedy on the Bridge and Alexandre bis to life – two lesser-known pre-war surrealist gems.

***11

Unreal city: The Rake's Progress at the Royal Academy of Music

Benjamin Poore, 22nd November

Frederic Wake-Walker's realisation of the Hogarth-inspired opera is visually bracing and assuredly sung.

****1

Emotion and mayhem: a golden double bill from Royal Academy Opera

Stephen Pritchard, 18th March

Students triumph in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges.

****1

By Jove! A terrific Semele at the Royal Academy of Music

Matthew Rye, 14th November

Royal Academy Opera maintains its usual high standards in a production of Handel’s operatic oratorio, a showcase for the singers of the future.

****1

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Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.