Sacred and profane in Guildhall School's Respighi double bill

Yolisa Ngwexana (The Blue Fairy)

Vladyslava Ionascu-Yakovenko (Maria)

La bella dormente nel bosco

Ana-Carmen Balestra (Princess)

By Susannah Moody, 08 November 2023

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“the opera derives a lot of charm and wit from physical theatre”

Reviewed at Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Silk Street Theatre, London on 6 November 2023

Respighi, Maria egiziaca

Respighi, La bella dormente nel bosco

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Dominic Wheeler, Conductor

Alistair Burton, Assistant Conductor

Victoria Newlyn, Director

Laura Jane Stanfield, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Jake Wiltshire, Lighting Designer

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra

Laurie Slavin, Assistant Director

Vladyslava Ionascu-Yakovenko, Maria, The spindle

Emyr Lloyd Jones, Abbate Zosimo / Pilgrim

Steven van der Linden, Sailor, The jester

Jonah Halton, The leper, The prince

Rachel Roper, Second companion, Blind woman, Poor man, The queen

Yolisa Ngwexana, First companion, Voice of an angel, The blue fairy

Joe Chalmers, The king, The ambassador, A woodcutter

Ana-Carmen Balestra, The princess

Holly Brown, The green fairy

Shana Moron-Caravel, The cuckoo, The little old lady, The duchess

Julia Sanchez Merino, The cat

Biqing Zhang, The nightingale

Respighi’s Lucrezia compels in Guildhall School’s double bill

Dominic Lowe, 3rd November

Pleas for more Respighi operas are answered as the students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama give the UK premiere of Lucrezia, paired with Ethel Smyth's Der Wald.

****1

Holst and Weir operas from the Guildhall School of Music

David Truslove, 5th June

Two accomplished performances bring emotional depth only intermittently, but show ample security of singing and playing.

***11

Dead Man Walking given a triumphant staging by Guildhall School

Mark Valencia, 27th February

Under Dominic Wheeler’s expert baton the musicians, all youthful if not downright young, give a spectacular account of a harrowing score.

****1

Picture perfect: a fine triple bill from the Guildhall School

Dominic Lowe, 11th November

Massenet, Smyth and Rota are unlikely bedfellows, but in the Guildhall School's Autumn production, a one-act opera by each contributed to a most convincing triple bill, all set around the La Scala Picturehouse in the 1920s.

****1

Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon outshines Bizet at Guildhall School

David Karlin, 1st November

A double bill of French operettas shows Guildhall students to advantage as well as providing an introduction to Viardot that's well worth the trip.

***11

Britten's Dream haunts Guildhall School

Roy Westbrook, 1st March

Dominic Wheeler did full justice to Britten’s brilliantly colourful and haunting score right from those first eerie glissandi.

****1

More reviews...

Susannah Moody

A London-based journalist and ex-lawyer, Susannah will cheerfully listen to most styles of music. Having trained as an operatic soprano through school and university, she has worked for several opera companies and set up a student opera company where she translated, directed and performed in productions including flash mob opera. Most recently she took part in the ENO Response programme reviewing the company's 2022-2023 season. She also writes about food as The Moody Foodie.