Rattle's penultimate instalment of the Ring cycle in Hamburg

Simon O'Neill and Michael Volle

Peter Hoare

Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

By Alexander Hall, 09 February 2023

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“the real heroes of the evening, however, were Rattle himself and his Bavarian players”

Reviewed at Elbphilharmonie: Grand Hall, Hamburg on 8 February 2023

Wagner, Siegfried (Concert performance)

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Anja Kampe, Brünnhilde

Peter Hoare, Mime

Simon O'Neill, Siegfried

Michael Volle, Der Wanderer

Gerhild Romberger, Erda

Georg Nigl, Alberich

Franz-Josef Selig, Fafner

Danae Kontora, Waldvogel (the woodbird)

Werther oozes quiet despair in new Canadian Opera Company staging

John Gilks, 7th May

Excellent performances cannot turn a conventional production of Massenet’s Werther into a dramatic experience for the 21st century.

***11

Rossini's Cenerentola proves great fun in Adelaide

Sandra Bowdler, 7th May

Neil Armfield's production for State Opera South Australia combines a sparkling night of entertainment with first class musical values.

****1

Peter Grimes drops anchor again at The Royal Opera

Christopher Woodley, 5th May

Allan Clayton and Sir Bryn Terfel lead a strong cast in a revival of Deborah Warner's dark staging of Britten's signature work at Covent Garden.

****1

The early flowering of opera: a fragrant L’Orfeo at Schwetzingen

Mengguang Huang, 3rd May

Markus Bothe’s Botticelli-inspired production fuses tableau vivant aesthetics with Jörg Halubek’s surgical musical precision, offering a peerless, vivid tribute to the fragrant dawn of opera.

****1

Deep into the American psyche: Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men

Hilary Stroh, 1st May

Carlisle Floyd's operatic setting of John Steinbeck’s classic novella is given a new production in the composer's centenary year at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

****1

Boston Doodle Dandy: Boston Lyric Opera presents La Fille du régiment

Kevin Wells, 1st May

Very few singers can hold an audience in the palm of their hand the way Brenda Rae as Marie does in this rollicking frolic.

****1

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Alexander Hall

Alexander Hall divides his time between London and Hamburg, where he had a career in academic administration and teaching. He reviews for Bachtrack and Opera Today, and has also reviewed for Classical Source. A connoisseur of the great orchestras of the world, his musical memories stretch back to Karajan/Berlin Phil, Mravinsky/Leningrad Phil, Bernstein/Vienna Phil, and he has seen most of the great conductors from the past, including Böhm, Klemperer, Kubelik, Ormandy and Szell.

Siegfried and Siegfried: Rattle's penultimate instalment of the Ring cycle