Spain Verdi, Attila (concert performance): Soloists, Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra / Nicola Luisotti (conductor). Teatro Real, Madrid, 14.5.2025. (JMI)
Sondra Radvanovsky is an outstanding Odabella in Teatro Real’s Attila
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Fine singing and a convincing production for Oldenburg’s Les contes d’Hoffmann
Germany Offenbach, Les contes d’Hoffmann: Soloists, Chorus, Extra Chorus, Oldenburgisches Staatsorchester / Vito Cristofaro (conductor). Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, 6.5.2025. (DM-D)
Barrie Kosky’s minimally staged, flawed Royal Opera Walküre, is great music theatre nonetheless
United Kingdom Wagner, Walküre: Soloists, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Peter Jones) from the Royal Opera House, London, to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 14.5.2025. (JPr)
John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra at the Met: relentlessly forward, less inward
United States John Adams, Antony and Cleopatra: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / John Adams (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 12.5.2025. (ES-S)
Welsh National Opera’s Peter Grimes is simply magnificent in Birmingham
United Kingdom Britten, Peter Grimes: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera / Tomáš Hanus (conductor). Birmingham Hippodrome, 12.5.2025. (CP)
Elīna Garanča blazes as Amneris in the Met’s final Aida of the season
United States Verdi, Aida: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / John Keenan (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 9.5.2025. (RP)
Sylvia returns to the Palais Garnier and Manuel Legris showcases the heritage of French classical dance
France Manuel Legris’s Sylvia: Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, Orchestra of the Paris National Opera / Kevin Rhodes (conductor). Palais Garnier, Paris, 9.5.2025 (JO’D)
Nadine Sierra is superb in Bellini’s La sonnambula at the Liceu
Spain Bellini, La sonnambula: Soloists, Liceu Chorus (conductor: Pablo Assante) and Orchestra / Lorenzo Passerini (conductor). Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 5.5.2025. (JMI)
