Time on her side: fairytale meets feminism in Tom Coult’s Violet

Anna Dennis (Violet)

Frances Gregory (Laura)

Richard Burkhard (Felix) and Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks (Clock Keeper)

Richard Burkhard (Felix) and Anna Dennis (Violet)

By Sarah Noble, 19 July 2022

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“the recurring toll of the clocktower’s bell weaves its way inexorably through Coult’s sinuous score”

Reviewed at Buxton Opera House, Buxton on 18 July 2022

Coult, Violet

Andrew Gourlay, Conductor

Jude Christian, Director

Rosie Elnile, Set Designer

Cécile Trémolières, Costume Designer

Jackie Shemesh, Lighting Designer

London Sinfonietta

Adam Sinclair, Animation

Anna Dennis, Violet

Richard Burkhard, Felix

Frances Gregory, Laura

Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks, Clockkeeper

ETO opens spring tour with an off-the-wall Manon Lescaut

Mark Valencia, 24th February

Jude Christian's indulgent reinvention of Puccini's opera does not serve English Touring Opera well as it embarks on its spring tour.

**111

L’Orfeo, the world’s first great opera, premieres at Glyndebourne

Roy Westbrook, 14th June

One element of the Orpheus myth is about creativity, so at Glyndebourne, William Kentridge sets Monteverdi’s opera in an artist's studio,

****1

Darkness without passion: Damiano Michieletto’s Carmen at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 12th June

Despite Michieletto's visual gloom, the evening is redeemed by Myung-whun Chung’s masterful conducting and a cast that brings conviction to a production that rarely trusts the opera’s own dramatic power.

**111

Aldeburgh Festival dives in at the deep end with Pelléas et Mélisande

Eleanor Knight, 12th June

Rory Kinnear directs a minimally semi-staged performance of Debussy's problematic opera at Snape Maltings, but Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish SO provide the detail.

****1

Monteverdi and Ulisse return happily to Garsington Opera

David Karlin, 12th June

Laurence Cummings and John Caird’s second Garsington exploration of the operas of Monteverdi brims with wonderfully playing and singing in an attractive setting.

****1

A thrilling Slavic Iolanta from Chișinău

Peter Quantrill, 11th June

Young voices shine in Tchaikovsky's last opera in a new and rustic updating by Moldovan director Slava Sambriș.

****1

More reviews...

Sarah Noble

Originally from New Zealand, Sarah Noble is an arts administrator and freelance writer whose articles and reviews have appeared in Limelight, Opera, NZ Opera News and The Opera Critic. After stints in Sydney, Orlando, London and Manchester, she's now based in Macclesfield but travels frequently in pursuit of live performance – operatic and otherwise. Sarah was previously the producer of the International Opera Awards and now works as production co-ordinator for a classical music filming company.