Written on Skin: a primeval experience

By Robert Levine, 12 August 2015

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“This is 95 minutes of jaw-dropping musical theater”

Reviewed at Lincoln Center: David H Koch Theater, New York City on 11 August 2015

Benjamin, Written on Skin

Alan Gilbert, Conductor

Katie Mitchell, Director

Vicki Mortimer, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Barbara Hannigan, Agnès

Victoria Simmonds, Marie / Angel 2

Robert Murray, John / Angel 3

Christopher Purves, The Protector

Tim Mead, Boy / Angel 1

Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Jon Clark, Lighting Designer

The Royal Opera stages its first Makropulos Case

Mark Valencia, 4th November

Katie Mitchell wheels out her tired old tropes in The Makropulos Case, redeemed by its musical performances.

***11

Nadine Sierra leads a musically formidable Lucia di Lammermoor

Mark Valencia, 19th April

Katie Mitchell's provocative staging is revived to great effect, elevated by glorious music-making led by Nadine Sierra's sensational Lucia.

****1

272 years on, Handel's Theodora comes home to Covent Garden

David Karlin, 31st January

Superb singing from Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński lights up a curate's egg staging from Katie Mitchell.

***11

Royal Opera's A New Dark Age is a powerful cantata for our time

Jenny Camilleri, 24th October

The Royal Opera House responds to current global turmoil with a double bill by four women composers. Baritone Peter Brathwaite delivers a tour de force in The Knife of Dawn and A New Dark Age is a powerful emotional journey.

***11

Less than the sum of its parts: Zauberland at the Linbury

David Karlin, 15th October

Fine performances by Julia Bullock and Cédric Tiberghien can't make up for the confusion of a fragmented, allusive narrative.

**111

“Soap opera at its best”: Katie Mitchell's Jenůfa

Nicolas Nguyen, 6th October

Katie Mitchell's second production of Jenůfa is a straightforward, effective reading of the libretto well supported by excellent singing actors.

****1

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Robert Levine

Robert T. Levine is a New York born-and-bred music writer with a particular interest in music for the voice. His work has appeared in many periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of many books, including The Story of the Orchestra, four volumes in the Black Dog & Leventhal Opera Library, and, most recently, Maria Callas: A Musical Biography.

Written on Skin at Mostly Mozart Festival: a primeval experience