Art Survival: Baltic Opera's triple bill in Gdańsk

By Graham Watts, 28 April 2021

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“dancers... in closely synchronised patterns as if a murmuration of starlings in flight”

Reviewed at Baltic Opera (Opera Bałtycka w Gdańsku), Gdańsk on 23 April 2021

Stravinsky, Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)

Debussy, L'Enfant prodigue

Honegger, Judith

Ballet of Baltic Opera

José Maria Florêncio, Conductor

Zuzanna Kubicz, Set Designer

Zofia Komasa, Costume Designer

Katarzyna Wietrzny, Lia, Servant

Ivaylo Mihaylov, Azael

Marcin Bronikowski, Siméon

Anna Bernacka, Judith

Witalj Widra, Tenor

Ewelina Adamczyk, Dancer

Radoslaw Palutkiewicz, Dancer

Beata Giza, Dancer

Bartlomiej Więckowski, Dancer

Filip Michalak, Dancer

Wojciech Warszawski, Dancer

Ewa Wycichowska, Choreography

Baltic Opera (Opera Bałtycka w Gdańsku)

The Black Mask: a brutal and complex parable for our times

Gavin Dixon, 5th June

Visionary director Marek Weiss ends his tenure at Opera Bałtyka with a powerful and uncompromising take on one of Poland’s most important modern operas.

****1

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

At half mast: Simon Boccanegra revived in Vienna

Orsolya Gyárfás, 19th April

Marco Armiliato's conducting thrills and Federica Lombardi's radiant Amelia stands out in the Wiener Staatsoper's latest revival of Simon Boccanegra.

***11

Anna Netrebko shines in Vienna’s timeless Tosca

Laura Servidei, 18th April

In a world where opera productions often stray into the abstract, the Wiener Staatsoper’s Tosca offers a refreshing return to tradition – and Anna Netrebko delivers a splendid performance.

****1

Weinberg’s The Passenger at Dutch National Opera

Clare Varney, 17th April

Tobias Kratzer's 2024 Munich production makes its way to Amsterdam, proving that Weinberg's opera has the power to transfix.

****1

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Graham Watts

Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.