Theatrically poverty-stricken: ETO's Blond Eckbert

Blond Eckbert

Aoife Miskelly in Blond Eckbert

William Morgan in Blond Eckbert

By Mark Valencia, 21 October 2024

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“without resolution there is no catharsis”

Reviewed at Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden on 18 October 2024

Works by Various

Weir, Blond Eckbert

English Touring Opera

Gerry Cornelius, Conductor

Robin Norton-Hale, Director

Alex Otterburn, Blond Eckbert

Flora McIntosh, Berthe

William Morgan, Hugo, Walther, An old woman

Aoife Miskelly, A bird

Abigail Kelly, Soprano

Amy J Payne, Mezzo-soprano

Matthew McKinney, Tenor

Mark Nathan, Baritone

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

English Touring Opera transfers Donizetti to the English coast

Dominic Lowe, 27th September

L'elisir d'amore may not immediately bring Skegness or Romney to mind, but ETO's new production works quite well there... just look out for the seagulls!

***11

Blissful and hard-boiled: I Capuleti e i Montecchi at ETO

David Karlin, 22nd February

Eloise Lally shifts the Romeo and Juliet love story into New York mafia families. Jessica Cale and Samantha Price provide blissful bel canto as the star-crossed lovers.

****1

A tender Shakespeare-inspired curio from English Touring Opera

Susannah Moody, 15th February

ETO kicks off its spring season with What Dreams May Come, a strange and moving staging of songs inspired by William Shakespeare.

***11

ETO's The Snowmaiden melts the heart and gladdens the ears

Dominic Lowe, 28th September

Olivia Fuchs' production of Rimsky-Korsakov's charming fable for ETO begins its tour in Hackney and is worth travelling to see. Catch this thoughtful production in a town near you.

****1

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

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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.

Theatrically poverty-stricken: Blond Eckbert from English Touring Opera