Stark and spellbinding: Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina

By Katherine Cooper, 27 September 2017

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“Sara Fulgoni brings a Kundry-like physicality to the liminal, shadowy role of Marfa”

Reviewed at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff on 23 September 2017

Mussorgsky, Khovanshchina

Welsh National Opera

Tomáš Hanus, Conductor

Sir David Pountney, Director

Claire Wild, Emma

Sara Fulgoni, Marfa

Adrian Dwyer, Prince Andrei Khovansky

Mark Le Brocq, Prince Vasily Golitzin

Simon Bailey, Boyar Fyodor Shaklovity

Miklós Sebestyén, Dosifey

Robert Hayward, Prince Ivan Khovansky

Monika Sawa, Susanna

Elena Thomas, Dancer

Beate Vollack, Choreography

Welsh National Opera Chorus

Welsh National Opera Orchestra

Welsh National Opera’s Dutchman docks in Birmingham

Rohan Shotton, 7th May

This bracing performance of The Flying Dutchman is a powerful reminder of the extraordinary musical standards which are at risk in the face of WNO’s subsidy cuts.

****1

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

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Katherine Cooper

Stark and spellbinding: Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina leads WNO's Russian season