Respighi rarity a riotous romp at Opéra de Lyon

By Jonathan Sutherland, 11 February 2018

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“wonderfully light and translucent but still manages to pull a Puccini punch”

Reviewed at Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse, Lyon on 9 February 2018

Respighi, La bella dormente nel bosco

Opéra de Lyon

Philippe Forget, Conductor

Barbora Horáková, Director

Eva Maria van Acker, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Henrike Henoch, The blue fairy, The nightingale, The spindle

Ana Victória Pitts, The duchess, The little old lady

Nikoleta Kapetanidou, The princess

Beth Taylor, The cuckoo, The cat, The queen

Grégoire Mour, The jester, The prince

Jan Żądło, A woodcutter, The ambassador, The king

Angelo Rinna, The green fairy

Maîtrise de l'Opéra de Lyon

Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon

James Rosental, Choreography

Billy Budd, or the Triumph of Beauty at the Opéra de Lyon

Stéphane Lelièvre, 21st March

The Opéra de Lyon presents Britten’s masterpiece for the first time: a triumph, both visually and musically, which is received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

****1

All that glitters: Barrie Kosky's Coq d'or opens in Lyon

Mark Pullinger, 20th May

Its premiere postponed from Festival d'Aix last summer, Barrie Kosky's staging of Rimsky-Korsakov's political satire finally takes place in Lyon.

*****

Seeing double: Bluebeard’s Castle at Opéra de Lyon

Zoltán Szabó, 26th March

A controversial new production of Bluebeard's Castle by Andriy Zholdak in which Bartók's opera is played out twice...

**111

La Cenerentola in Edinburgh: comic direction to savour

David Karlin, 24th August

Herheim pulls us in unexpected directions, makes us laugh and makes us think as we enjoy fine Rossinian music and singing in Opéra de Lyon's production.

****1

Marton turns Don Giovanni into a wrist-slashing wimp

Jonathan Sutherland, 25th June

A disappointing new production by David Marton at Opéra de Lyon.

**111

Darkness and grandeur in Christophe Honoré's Don Carlos

Mark Pullinger, 17th March

A (nearly) complete performance of the original French version of Don Carlos forms the centrepiece of Daniele Rustioni's Verdi Festival in Lyon.

****1

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Jonathan Sutherland

Jonathan Sutherland is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is also an internationally renowned concert pianist specializing in the music of the 1930s. Jonathan’s first operatic experience was hearing Maria Callas sing Tosca in Covent Garden and he has since heard performances in all continents of the world including over 60 different productions at the Wiener Staatsoper. He has written for The Australian, Opera Today and The Opera Critic as well as Bachtrack. Jonathan speaks English, French, German and Italian fluently and is based in the south of France near Nice.