Rattle and the LSO chill the soul in Kátya Kabanová

Amanda Majeski and Sir Simon Rattle

Katarina Dalayman and Sir Simon Rattle

Simon O'Neill and Amanda Majeski

By Mark Valencia, 13 January 2023

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“woe betide anyone who got caught in the headlights of this harridan of a Kabanicha”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 11 January 2023

Janáček, Kátya Kabanová (Concert performance)

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

London Symphony Orchestra

Amanda Majeski, Kátya

Simon O'Neill, Boris

Katarina Dalayman, Kabanicha

Andrew Staples, Tichon

Pavlo Hunka, Dikój

Ladislav Elgr, Kudrjaš

Magdalena Kožená, Varvara

Claire Barnett-Jones, Fekluša

Sarah Pring, Glaša

Lukáš Zeman, Kuligin

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

At half mast: Simon Boccanegra revived in Vienna

Orsolya Gyárfás, 19th April

Marco Armiliato's conducting thrills and Federica Lombardi's radiant Amelia stands out in the Wiener Staatsoper's latest revival of Simon Boccanegra.

***11

Anna Netrebko shines in Vienna’s timeless Tosca

Laura Servidei, 18th April

In a world where opera productions often stray into the abstract, the Wiener Staatsoper’s Tosca offers a refreshing return to tradition – and Anna Netrebko delivers a splendid performance.

****1

Weinberg’s The Passenger at Dutch National Opera

Clare Varney, 17th April

Tobias Kratzer's 2024 Munich production makes its way to Amsterdam, proving that Weinberg's opera has the power to transfix.

****1

Frauenliebe und -sterben: Kratzer’s triple bill at Staatsoper Hamburg

Mengguang Huang, 15th April

Director Tobias Kratzer engineers a haunting pasticcio of Schumann, Bartók and Zemlinsky, tracing the domestic sphere’s shift from romantic surrender to the blood-soaked secrets of a century-spanning house.

****1

More reviews...

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.