Paper lanterns and origami wings

By Mark Pullinger, 27 August 2015

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Reviewed at Arcola Theatre Studio 1, London on 26 August 2015

Puccini, Madama Butterfly

Paul Wingfield, Conductor

Julia Burbach, Director

Naomi Dawson, Set Designer

Cécile Trémolières, Costume Designer

Natasha Jouhl, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly)

Thomas Atkins, Pinkerton

Ayaka Tanimoto, Suzuki

Gareth Brynmor John, Sharpless

Grace Carter, Kate Pinkerton

Christopher Diffey, Goro

Nicolas Dwyer, Prince Yamadori

Frederick Long, The Official Registrar

Freddie Tong, The Bonze

Sir David McVicar’s psychologically driven Salome arrives in Chicago

Graham Meyer, 25th January

Revived at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the notorious opera director’s take stirs sympathy for Salome, but leans on some of his theatrical hobby-horses

****1

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

Doomed Dutchman wants a wife: Wagner makes Opera Holland Park debut

Eleanor Knight, 27th May

Amid the rough winds of late May, Julia Burbach directs Opera Holland Park's first venture into Wagner – The Flying Dutchman.

***11

Julia Burbach delivers a potent Elixir in Prague

Frank Kuznik, 22nd September

Donizetti's frothy romantic comedy takes on fresh appeal in this faithful rendering at the State Opera.

*****

Grimeborn delivers a wholly satisfying Half Ring at Hackney Empire

Roy Westbrook, 6th August

Using Jonathan Dove and Graham Vick's distillations of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, the company concluded its miniature Ring cycle in under five hours, without sacrificing musical or dramatic tension.

****1

An icy Eugene Onegin at Opera Holland Park

Kevin W Ng, 31st May

Julia Burbach's new production lacks poetry in spite of an admirable cast led by Samuel Dale Johnson in the title role.

***11

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Paper lanterns and origami wings: a ghostly Madama Butterfly at Grimeborn