Firing blanks: Tosca at Covent Garden

By Mark Pullinger, 11 January 2016

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Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 11 January 2016

Puccini, Tosca

The Royal Opera

Emmanuel Villaume, Conductor

Jonathan Kent, Director

Paul Brown, Set Designer

Amanda Echalaz, Floria Tosca

Najmiddin Mavlyanov, Mario Cavaradossi

Roberto Frontali, Baron Scarpia

Hubert Francis, Spoletta

Yuriy Yurchuk, Cesare Angelotti

Donald Maxwell, Sacristan

David Shipley, Sciarrone

Duncan Tarbuton, Shepherd Boy

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Royal Opera Chorus

Andrew Sinclair, Revival Director

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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.

Firing blanks: a disappointing Tosca at Covent Garden