Fly away on wings of wind: Novaya Opera’s Prince Igor takes wing at the Coliseum

By Mark Pullinger, 02 April 2014

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“ How glorious to hear a Russian chorus in full cry, basses plumbing the subterranean depths”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 1 April 2014

Borodin, Prince Igor

Novaya Opera

Jan Latham-Koenig, Conductor

Yuri Alexandrov, Director

Vyacheslav Okunev, Set Designer

Elena Popovskaya, Yaroslavna

Agunda Kulaeva, Konchakovna

Aleksey Tatarintsev, Vladimir Igorevich

Sergey Artamonov, Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Novgorod-Seversky

Evgeny Stavinsky, Galitsky

Vladimir Kudashev, Konchak

In Moscow, a rare outing for Bellini’s Il pirata

Edward Sava-Segal, 23rd January

Tenor Dmitry Korchak was the pick of the soloists in this concert performance by Novaya Opera.

***11

The early flowering of opera: a fragrant L’Orfeo at Schwetzingen

Mengguang Huang, 3rd May

Markus Bothe’s Botticelli-inspired production fuses tableau vivant aesthetics with Jörg Halubek’s surgical musical precision, offering a peerless, vivid tribute to the fragrant dawn of opera.

****1

Deep into the American psyche: Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men

Hilary Stroh, 1st May

Carlisle Floyd's operatic setting of John Steinbeck’s classic novella is given a new production in the composer's centenary year at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

****1

Boston Doodle Dandy: Boston Lyric Opera presents La Fille du régiment

Kevin Wells, 1st May

Very few singers can hold an audience in the palm of their hand the way Brenda Rae as Marie does in this rollicking frolic.

****1

Two funerals and a bedding at the Linbury Theatre

Eleanor Knight, 1st May

Tales of love and loss as operas by Elena Langer, Charlotte Bray and Elizabeth Maconchy form a varied triple bill in this showcase for The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists.

****1

The triumph of virtue: Rossini’s Cenerentola in Brisbane

Sandra Bowdler, 29th April

Margarita Gritskova leads a fine ensemble performance of Rossini’s most under-appreciated opera by Opera Queensland.

****1

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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.