The Royal Opera's young artists excel in a Weill-Brecht double bill

By Mark Valencia, 11 April 2021

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“it’s not just the fourth wall they break down, it’s the whole edifice”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 9 April 2021

Weill, The Seven Deadly Sins

Weill, Mahagonny Songspiel

The Royal Opera

Michael Papadopoulos, Conductor

Isabelle Kettle, Director

Lizzie Clachan, Set Designer, Costume Designer

James Farncombe, Lighting Designer

Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Anna I, Mezzo-soprano

Jonadette Carpio, Anna II

Egor Zhuravskii, Brother, Tenor

Filipe Manu, Father, Tenor

Dominic Sedgwick, Brother, Baritone

Blaise Malaba, Mother, Bass-baritone

Julia Cheng, Choreography

Kseniia Nikolaieva, Mezzo-soprano

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

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

Ermonela Jaho returns in triumph to The Royal Opera’s Traviata

Mark Valencia, 8th January

Richard Eyre’s 32-year-old production is rarely out of The Royal Opera’s repertoire for more than a few months at a time, but this particular revival proves very special.

*****

Turandot drowned in an orchestral tsunami at The Royal Opera

David Karlin, 15th December

Andrei Șerban’s 40 year old take on Puccini's tale of the ice princess largely stands the test of time, but Netrebko and Eyvazov are short of their best form.

***11

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Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.