A truly kingly entertainment in Berkeley

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 29 April 2017

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“Everyone on the stage could sing with crisp French and turn a perfect trill”

Reviewed at UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley on 28 April 2017

Rameau, Le Temple de la Gloire (Modern Day Premiere, 1745 vers.)

The New York Baroque Dance Company

Nicholas McGegan, Conductor

Gabrielle Philiponet, Plautine

Aaron Sheehan, Apollo, Trajan

Artavazd Sargsyan, Bacchus

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale

Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Soprano

Camille Ortiz-Lafont, Soprano

Philippe-Nicolas Martin, Baritone

Marc Labonnette, Baritone

Philharmonia Chorale

Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante wins hearts at the Opéra de Paris

David Karlin, 2nd June

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

****1

Chasing the American Dream: UK premiere for Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up

Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre.

****1

Longborough Festival Opera season starts slow with Orlando

Eleanor Knight, 30th May

Beth Taylor gives the lows and highs of Handel's heroics an almighty, whole-body shakedown in Sinéad O'Neill’s new staging of Handel's Orlando.

***11

Viennese splendour in Garsington’s Rosenkavalier revival

Roy Westbrook, 28th May

Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast.

****1

Bang! Mozart’s volcano erupts in Opera Holland Park’s Così fan tutte

Peter Quantrill, 28th May

Mount Vesuvius looms over Cecilia Stinton’s compelling new production of Così fan tutte.

****1

Garsington’s new La traviata ticks every musical and dramatic box

David Karlin, 27th May

Music Director Douglas Boyd conducts a performance of exceptional musical quality, and Louisa Muller's uncontroversial but passionate direction makes this Traviata one for the ages.

*****

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Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Ilana Walder-Biesanz is a product manager for Yahoo, a theatre and opera critic, and a classically trained mezzo-soprano. She explored theater and opera stagings as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge and as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. She currently writes for Bachtrack, San Francisco Classical Voice, and Stark Insider. Twitter: @ilana_wb.

A truly kingly entertainment: Baroque beauty in Berkeley