Downhill from Venusberg: a bland Tannhäuser

By Mark Pullinger, 27 April 2016

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Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 26 April 2016

Wagner, Tannhäuser

The Royal Opera

Hartmut Haenchen, Conductor

Tim Albery, Director

Michael Levine, Set Designer

Jon Morrell, Costume Designer

Peter Seiffert, Tannhäuser

Christian Gerhaher, Wolfram von Eschenbach

Emma Bell, Elisabeth

Sophie Koch, Venus

Stephen Milling, Landgraf Hermann

Michael Kraus, Biterolf

Samuel Sakker, Heinrich der Schreiber

Ed Lyon, Walther von der Vogelweide

Jeremy White, Reinmar von Zweter

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Chœur de Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

Jasmin Vardimon, Choreography

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Downhill from Venusberg: a bland Tannhäuser revived at Covent Garden