Britten's Dream haunts Guildhall School

By Roy Westbrook, 02 March 2019

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“It is, as this of all operas requires, enchanting”

Reviewed at Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Silk Street Theatre, London on 1 March 2019

Britten, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Dominic Wheeler, Conductor

Martin Lloyd-Evans, Director

Ruari Murchison, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Collin Shay, Oberon

Madison Nonoa, Tytania

Samantha Clarke, Helena

Lucy McAuley, Hermia

Frederick Jones, Lysander

Seán Boylan, Demetrius

Sam Carl, Bottom

Christian Valle, Theseus

Carmen Artaza, Hippolyta

Robert Lewis, Flute

Damian Arnold, Snout

Andrew Hamilton, Starveling

William Thomas, Quince

Thomas Mole, Snug

William Sharma, Puck

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra

Mark Jonathan, Lighting Designer

Respighi’s Lucrezia compels in Guildhall School’s double bill

Dominic Lowe, 3rd November

Pleas for more Respighi operas are answered as the students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama give the UK premiere of Lucrezia, paired with Ethel Smyth's Der Wald.

****1

Sacred and profane in Guildhall School's Respighi double bill

Susannah Moody, 6th November

From the spiritual conversion of a Medieval sex-worker, to the Sleeping Beauty tale reimagined, Guildhall stages a Respighi double-bill.

***11

Holst and Weir operas from the Guildhall School of Music

David Truslove, 5th June

Two accomplished performances bring emotional depth only intermittently, but show ample security of singing and playing.

***11

Dead Man Walking given a triumphant staging by Guildhall School

Mark Valencia, 27th February

Under Dominic Wheeler’s expert baton the musicians, all youthful if not downright young, give a spectacular account of a harrowing score.

****1

Picture perfect: a fine triple bill from the Guildhall School

Dominic Lowe, 11th November

Massenet, Smyth and Rota are unlikely bedfellows, but in the Guildhall School's Autumn production, a one-act opera by each contributed to a most convincing triple bill, all set around the La Scala Picturehouse in the 1920s.

****1

Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon outshines Bizet at Guildhall School

David Karlin, 1st November

A double bill of French operettas shows Guildhall students to advantage as well as providing an introduction to Viardot that's well worth the trip.

***11

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Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.

“Lord what fools these mortals be”: Britten's Dream haunts the Guildhall School