Keeping it surreal: Martinů double-bill at the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy Opera company in Martinů’s Alexandre bis (1937)

Martinů’s Comedy on the Bridge (1935)

Samuel Stopford (Oscar) in Alexander bis

By Dominic Lowe, 10 May 2024

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“more winks and nudges than a hen weekend”

Reviewed at Royal Academy of Music: Susie Sainsbury Theatre, London on 8 May 2024

Martinů, Comedy on the Bridge

Martinů, Alexandre Bis

Royal Academy Opera

Lada Valešová, Conductor

Rachael Hewer, Director

Leanne Vandenbussche, Set Designer

Kevin Treacy, Lighting Designer

The Royal Academy's Carmen has too many what-if moments

Dominic Lowe, 18th November

Presenting a work like Carmen is a punchy move by a conservatoire. The Royal Academy of Music's production has conceptual weaknesses, but features some good singing.

***11

Royal Academy Opera stages a magical Zauberflöte

Mark Valencia, 18th March

A lyrical yet zesty account of Mozart's' adorable score, in a production that is on the nose and off the wall.

****1

A dystopian Hansel und Gretel at the RAM

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Jack Furness serves up an unappetising mess of Humperdinck's delicious masterpiece for Royal Academy Opera.

***11

Unreal city: The Rake's Progress at the Royal Academy of Music

Benjamin Poore, 22nd November

Frederic Wake-Walker's realisation of the Hogarth-inspired opera is visually bracing and assuredly sung.

****1

Emotion and mayhem: a golden double bill from Royal Academy Opera

Stephen Pritchard, 18th March

Students triumph in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges.

****1

By Jove! A terrific Semele at the Royal Academy of Music

Matthew Rye, 14th November

Royal Academy Opera maintains its usual high standards in a production of Handel’s operatic oratorio, a showcase for the singers of the future.

****1

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Dominic Lowe

Dominic Lowe recently completed a degree in Classics, and one of his great interests is the reception of Greece and Rome in opera. A regular opera-goer since his very early teens, he is particularly keen on the hidden operatic gems of the 19th century. He is largely based in the South of England.