Pappano leads The Royal Opera's return to action

By Mark Pullinger, 05 September 2020

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“some singers are able to make love to the camera; Aigul Akhmetshina dazzled in Cenerentola”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 5 September 2020

Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K492: Overture

Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Largo al factotum

Donizetti, L'elisir d'amore: Caro elisir

Rossini, La Cenerentola (Cinderella): Nacqui all'affanno... Non più mesta

Bellini, La sonnambula: Ah! non giunge

Verdi, Un ballo in maschera: Forse la soglia attinse … Ma se m'è forza perderti

Verdi, Otello: Credo in un Dio crudel

Dvořák, Rusalka: Song to the moon (Mesicku na nebi hlubokem)

Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Scintille, diamant

Massenet, Manon: Obéissons quand leur voix appelle

Bizet, Carmen (Act 4)

Puccini, Tosca: Act I closing scene

Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor

Lisette Oropesa, Soprano

Kristine Opolais, Soprano

Aigul Akhmetshina, Mezzo-soprano

Gerald Finley, Baritone

Charles Castronovo, Tenor

Filipe Manu, Tenor

Vito Priante, Baritone

Jeremy White, Bass

Royal Opera Chorus

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

The Royal Opera

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

Two funerals and a bedding at the Linbury Theatre

Eleanor Knight, 1st May

Tales of love and loss as operas by Elena Langer, Charlotte Bray and Elizabeth Maconchy form a varied triple bill in this showcase for The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists.

****1

The Turn of the Screw at RBO Linbury: Darkness and denial

Eleanor Knight, 26th March

Natalie Abrahami’s mesmerising new production of Britten’s ghostly tale of sexual abuse is very dark indeed.

*****

A riveting Rigoletto revival at the Royal Opera House

Dominic Lowe, 25th March

Sir Mark Elder celebrates 50 years at Covent Garden by returning to his first opera there in 1976 – Verdi's Rigoletto – in a revival of Oliver Mears' excellent 2021 production.

****1

Siegfried at the RBO: Kosky and Pappano surprise and delight

David Karlin, 17th March

A revelatory orchestral performance and a cast led by Andreas Schager, Christopher Maltman and Elisabeth Strid make this a Siegfried for the record books.

*****

Terfel’s craggy Boris Godunov returns to Covent Garden

Mark Pullinger, 29th January

The second revival of Richard Jones' staging of Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of Boris Godunov once again stars the Welsh knight.

****1

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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.

Getting the band back together: Pappano leads The Royal Opera's return to action