Vivid Monteverdi: The Coronation of Poppea from ETO

Jessica Cale, Keith Pun, Sandeep Gurrapadi, Zahid Siddiqui, Amy J Payne

Jessica Cale (Poppea), Martha Jones (Nero)

Trevor Eliot Bowes (Seneca), Kezia Bienek (Ottavia)

By Mark Valencia, 28 October 2023

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“all the wheedling sensuousness that Poppea deploys to realise her ruthless ambition”

Reviewed at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape on 27 October 2023

Monteverdi, L'incoronazione di Poppea, SV 308

English Touring Opera

James Ham, Conductor

Robin Norton-Hale, Director

Basia Bińkowska, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Charlie Morgan Jones, Lighting Designer

Jessica Cale, Poppea

Martha Jones, Nerone

Kezia Bienek, Ottavia

Feargal Mostyn-Williams, Ottone

Trevor Bowes, Seneca

Keith Pun, Amore

Julia Mariko, La Virtù

Amy J Payne, Arnalta

Zahid Siddiqui, Lucano

Richard Pinkstone, Liberto

Theo Perry, Console, Mercurio

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

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

More reviews...

Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

Vivid Monteverdi: The Coronation of Poppea from English Touring Opera