The LSO opens the season with a thrilling performance of Verdi's Rigoletto

By Alan Yu, 17 September 2013

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 15 September 2013

Verdi, Rigoletto

Gianandrea Noseda, Conductor

Dimitri Platanias, Rigoletto

Desirée Rancatore, Gilda

Giuseppe Filianoti, The Duke of Mantua

Gábor Bretz, Sparafucile

Josè Maria Lo Monaco, Maddalena

Julien Dran, Borsa

Madeleine Shaw, Giovanna

Matthew Hargreaves, Count Ceprano

Valeria Tornatore, Countess Ceprano

Arutjun Kotchinian, Monterone

London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Chorus

10 Days in a Madhouse receives Canadian premiere

John Gilks, 16th June

10 Days in a Madhouse is a musically and dramatically excellent but disturbing insight into conditions in a women’s asylum brought to life in Toronto by an excellent production.

****1

Galați Cenerentola lights up the Bucharest stage

Peter Quantrill, 15th June

First class young voices and bewitchingly stylised designs shine through the murk at the Bucharest Opera Festival.

****1

L’Orfeo, the world’s first great opera, premieres at Glyndebourne

Roy Westbrook, 14th June

One element of the Orpheus myth is about creativity, so at Glyndebourne, William Kentridge sets Monteverdi’s opera in an artist's studio,

****1

Aldeburgh Festival dives in at the deep end with Pelléas et Mélisande

Eleanor Knight, 12th June

Rory Kinnear directs a minimally semi-staged performance of Debussy's problematic opera at Snape Maltings, but Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish SO provide the detail.

****1

Monteverdi and Ulisse return happily to Garsington Opera

David Karlin, 12th June

Laurence Cummings and John Caird’s second Garsington exploration of the operas of Monteverdi brims with wonderfully playing and singing in an attractive setting.

****1

Darkness without passion: Damiano Michieletto’s Carmen at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 12th June

Despite Michieletto's visual gloom, the evening is redeemed by Myung-whun Chung’s masterful conducting and a cast that brings conviction to a production that rarely trusts the opera’s own dramatic power.

**111

More reviews...

Alan Yu

The first concert Alan attended was Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. For 7 years he presented classical music programmes for Radio Television Hong Kong, partly to pay his way through university. He attends concerts whenever he can and believes there is no substitute for the thrill of live performances. He writes here.