Prom 59: Berlioz with a bronze glow

By Mark Pullinger, 03 September 2019

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“Spyres’ interpretation is exhilarating, high on energy”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 2 September 2019

Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini (Concert performance; sung in French, with surtitles)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Noa Naamat, Director

Sarah Denise Cordery, Costume Designer

Michael Spyres, Benvenuto Cellini

Sophia Burgos, Teresa

Maurizio Muraro, Giacomo Balducci

Tareq Nazmi, Pope Clement VII

Vincent Delhoume, Francesco

Ashley Riches, Bernardino

Lionel Lhote, Fieramosca

Adèle Charvet, Ascanio

Peter Davoren, An innkeeper

Alexander Ashworth, Pompeo

Rick Fisher, Lighting Designer

Monteverdi Choir

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Blinded by passion: Cav & Pag returns to the Royal Opera House

Dominic Lowe, 30th November

Questionable conducting aside, The Royal Opera's latest revival of Damiano Michieletto’s fluid production of the famous operatic double-bill is terrifically executed by two excellent casts.

****1

La commedia è finita: a scorching Cav & Pag at Covent Garden

Mark Pullinger, 5th July

With more cast reshuffles than in Downing Street of late, this revival of Damiano Michieletto's intertwined Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci double bill triumphs against the odds.

*****

JPYA unite for a golden afternoon at Covent Garden

Mark Valencia, 21st July

The young singers spin any raw material into opera gold, sending the audience home as uplifted as if they’d just glugged a bellyful of Pimm’s.

****1

A sensitive and stylish new production of Phaedra

Mark Valencia, 15th May

A post-mortem fantasy that’s as compelling as it is confusing.

****1

Benvenuto Cellini à La Côte-Saint-André : du jeu et des décibels

François Jestin, 29th August

Au Festival Berlioz, Sir John Eliot Gardiner dirige une éclatante production de Benvenuto Cellini, avec un grand Michael Spyres et une intelligente mise en espace de Noa Naamat.

****1

Petrenko and Serebrennikov forge a new Ring in Salzburg

Phillip Richter, 1st April

The Berliner Philharmoniker’s much-anticipated return to Salzburg gets off to an impressive musical start. Kirill Serebrennikov’s staging raises numerous questions, but answers few of them.

****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.

Prom 59: Berlioz with a bronze glow as Benvenuto Cellini crowns 150th anniversary