Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

An excellent cast brings Peter Sellars’s Salzburg production of The Gambler vividly to life

by

AustriaAustria Salzburg Festival 2024 [10] – Prokofiev, The Gambler: Soloists, Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Timur Zangiev (conductor). Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, 25.8.2024. (MB)

[l-r] Sean Panikkar (Alexey), Violeta Urmana (Babulenka) and Asmik Grigorian (Polina) © SF/Ruth Walz)

Read more

For all the power of Rihab Chaieb’s (anti-)hero, this was a mixed Glyndebourne Carmen at the Proms

by

United KingdomUnited Kingdom PROM 52 – Bizet, Carmen from Glyndebourne: Soloists, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra / Anja Bihlmaier (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, London, 29.8.2024. (CC)

Bizet’s Carmen from Glyndebourne at the BBC Proms © BBC/Andy Paradise

Read more

Excellent cast let down by lifeless conducting and a confusing Salzburg production of Les contes d’Hoffmann

by

AustriaAustria Salzburg Festival 2024 [8] – Offenbach, Les contes d’Hoffmann: Soloists, Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Marc Minkowski (conductor). Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg, 24.8.2024. (MB)

Les contes d’Hoffmann: Benjamin Bernheim (Hoffmann), Kate Lindsey (Muse/Nicklausse) and Kathryn Lewek (Stella) © SF/Monika Rittershaus

Read more

Rossini’s Ermione receives a visually overwhelming production in Pesaro

by

ItalyItaly Rossini Opera Festival 2024 [2] – Rossini, Ermione: Soloists, Coro del teatro ventidio basso, Orchestra sinfonica nazionale della RAI / Michele Mariotti (conductor). Vitrifrigo Arena, Pesaro, 9.8.2024. (AB)

Anastasia Bartoli (Ermione) and  Juan Diego Flórez (Oreste) © Amati Biaccardi

Read more

Exceptional music making in a rather static production of Bianca e Falliero in Pesaro

by

ItalyItaly Rossini Opera Festival 2024 [1] – Rossini, Bianca e Falliero: Soloists, Coro del teatro ventidio basso, Orchestra sinfonica nazionale della RAI, Roberto Abbado (conductor). Auditorium Scavolini, Pesaro, 7.8.2024. (AB)

Rossini Opera Festival 2024’s Bianca e Falliero

Read more

The storytelling impresses in Amy Lane’s (mostly) straightforward new Longborough Die Walküre

by

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Longborough Festival Opera [3] – Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Long borough Festival Orchestra / Anthony Negus (conductor). Recorded at Loughborough (directed by Matthew Dilley) on 26.6.2024 and available on OperaVision and YouTube until 9.2.2025. (JPr)

Paul Carey Jones (Wotan) and Madeleine Shaw (Fricka) © Matthew Williams-Ellis

Read more