A sharp, crisp Oklahoma! at the BBC Proms

By Mark Valencia, 12 August 2017

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“an overture of spry delights, daringly fast yet anything but furious”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 11 August 2017

Rodgers, Oklahoma! (semi-staged)

John Wilson, Conductor

Rachel Kavanaugh, Director

Belinda Lang, Aunt Eller

Nathaniel Hackmann, Curly McLain

Scarlett Strallen, Laurey Williams

Robert Fairchild, Will Parker

David Seadon-Young, Jud Fry

Lizzy Connolly, Ado Annie

Marcus Brigstocke, Ali Hakim

John Wilson Orchestra

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Laura Servidei, 12th April

Visually enchanting and meticulously staged, this centenary revival confirms Livermore's production as a modern classic.

****1

Regents Opera’s Salome lands a knockout punch at York Hall

Mark Pullinger, 10th April

Mark Ravenhill directs a brutal, bloody Salome for Regents Opera at the spiritual home of British boxing, York Hall.

****1

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

Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno returns to Rome

Pia Maltri, 7th April

Robert Carsen’s staging of Handel's oratorio arrives, via Salzburg, in the city where Handel composed it in 1707.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Parsifal without the hocus-pocus in Lower Bavaria

Peter Quantrill, 4th April

A colourful, revue-style production dispels the clouds of mystique surrounding Wagner's last opera.

****1

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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.

Prom 34: A sharp, crisp Oklahoma! at the Proms