Ravi Shankar’s Opera Sukanya Delights in Birmingham

By Robert Gainer, 17 May 2017

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“The fusion seemed natural, unforced.”

Reviewed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 15 May 2017

Shankar, Sukanya (World première)

Susanna Hurrell, Soprano

Alok Kumar, Tenor

Keel Watson, Bass

Njabulo Madlala, Baritone

Michel de Souza, Baritone

Suba Das, Director

David Murphy, Conductor

Aakash Odedra Company

BBC Singers

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Parimal Sadaphal, Sitar

Ashwani Shankar, Shehnai

Sukanya: close but no sitar

Timmy Fisher, 15th January

Ravi Shankar's valiant fusion of East and West is no greater than the sum of its parts.

***11

Frauenliebe und -sterben: Kratzer’s triple bill at Staatsoper Hamburg

Mengguang Huang, 15th April

Director Tobias Kratzer engineers a haunting pasticcio of Schumann, Bartók and Zemlinsky, tracing the domestic sphere’s shift from romantic surrender to the blood-soaked secrets of a century-spanning house.

****1

Diamonds and steel: Anna Pirozzi rules in La Scala’s Turandot revival

Laura Servidei, 12th April

Visually enchanting and meticulously staged, this centenary revival confirms Livermore's production as a modern classic.

****1

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

Regents Opera’s Salome lands a knockout punch at York Hall

Mark Pullinger, 10th April

Mark Ravenhill directs a brutal, bloody Salome for Regents Opera at the spiritual home of British boxing, York Hall.

****1

Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno returns to Rome

Pia Maltri, 7th April

Robert Carsen’s staging of Handel's oratorio arrives, via Salzburg, in the city where Handel composed it in 1707.

****1

More reviews...

Robert Gainer

Robert Gainer has completed a BA in European Studies at the University of Warwick and an MSc in Criminology at the University of Leicester. He is currently completing further study in English and Cultural Studies, again at Warwick. He plays trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn and his musical background is in brass band and orchestra. In his spare time he enjoys writing fiction and poetry.