So foul and fair a day: Verdi's Macbeth at Iford

By Charlotte Valori, 15 June 2016

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“Iford's stone interior, which lends itself naturally to an ancient Scottish castle”

Reviewed at Iford Manor, Bradford on Avon on 11 June 2016

Verdi, Macbeth

If Opera

Oliver Gooch, Conductor

Bruno Ravella, Director

Alyson Cummins, Set Designer

Eddie Wade, Macbeth

Laura Parfitt, Lady Macbeth

Barnaby Rea, Banquo

Christopher Turner, Macduff

Oliver Brignall, Malcolm

Aoife O'Connell, Soprano

Claire Filer, Soprano

Sarah Richmond, Mezzo-soprano

CHROMA

Escape to the country: Bernstein's Candide at Iford

Charlotte Valori, 29th May

Jeff Clarke's characteristically high-octane style seems made for the sarcastic, hyperactive existential madness that is Candide in this little gem of a production for Iford.

****1

A Fairy Queen at Iford

Charlotte Valori, 23rd July

An especially adapted version of Purcell's Fairy Queen, reworked by Timothy Nelson, inspires an exceptional reading from a talented young cast at Iford.

****1

Agrippina: Power-dressed and power hungry

Charlotte Valori, 25th July

Bruno Ravella's version of Handel's Agrippina moves the action from Classical Rome to the avaricious Eighties in a sharp, amusing night at Iford.

***11

Getting behind the mask: an intense Ballo at Iford

Charlotte Valori, 6th June

While it may seem perfectly formed for the full grand opera treatment, Verdi's classic Un ballo in maschera can also work extremely well on a small scale, as shown by this intimate and compelling treatment by Timothy Nelson at Iford.

****1

Some enchanted evening: La rondine at Iford

Charlotte Valori, 14th June

Rapturously romantic, intimate, moving, unforgettable: more English summer opera should be like Iford. And the garden is like Narnia in the spring.

****1

Stunning direction elevates New Zealand Opera's La bohème

Simon Holden, 29th May

New Zealand Opera's new production impresses with its stunning set design and art direction, and its restrained emotional tone.

***11

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.