Fun-filled Magic Flute from ETO in Hackney

By Ken Ward, 08 March 2014

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Reviewed at Hackney Empire, London on 7 March 2014

Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) (Sung in English)

English Touring Opera

Michael Rosewell, Conductor

Liam Steel, Director

Chloe Lamford, Set Designer

Anna Patalong, Pamina

Samantha Hay, Queen of the Night

Ashley Catling, Tamino

Wyn Pencarreg, Papageno

Andrew Slater, Sarastro

Camilla Roberts, First Lady

Amy J Payne, Second Lady

Helen Julie Johnson, Third Lady

Stuart Haycock, Monostatos

Johnny Herford, The Speaker (Der Sprecher)

English Touring Opera transfers Donizetti to the English coast

Dominic Lowe, 27th September

L'elisir d'amore may not immediately bring Skegness or Romney to mind, but ETO's new production works quite well there... just look out for the seagulls!

***11

Blissful and hard-boiled: I Capuleti e i Montecchi at ETO

David Karlin, 22nd February

Eloise Lally shifts the Romeo and Juliet love story into New York mafia families. Jessica Cale and Samantha Price provide blissful bel canto as the star-crossed lovers.

****1

A tender Shakespeare-inspired curio from English Touring Opera

Susannah Moody, 15th February

ETO kicks off its spring season with What Dreams May Come, a strange and moving staging of songs inspired by William Shakespeare.

***11

Theatrically poverty-stricken: ETO's Blond Eckbert

Mark Valencia, 18th October

Judith Weir's cryptic folk opera lacks the narrative propulsion necessary to enthral an audience, and without resolution there is no catharsis.

**111

ETO's The Snowmaiden melts the heart and gladdens the ears

Dominic Lowe, 28th September

Olivia Fuchs' production of Rimsky-Korsakov's charming fable for ETO begins its tour in Hackney and is worth travelling to see. Catch this thoughtful production in a town near you.

****1

ETO opens spring tour with an off-the-wall Manon Lescaut

Mark Valencia, 24th February

Jude Christian's indulgent reinvention of Puccini's opera does not serve English Touring Opera well as it embarks on its spring tour.

**111

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Ken Ward

Ken Ward spent most of his working life driving buses for Eastern National and London Buses. With a life-long enthusiasm for the works of Bruckner, he became editor of The Bruckner Journal in 2005 and was awarded The Bruckner Society of America 'Kilenyi' Medal of Honor in 2011.