Canada Donizetti, Maria Stuarda: Pacific Opera Victoria, soloists, Victoria Symphony, Timothy Vernon (conductor), Royal Theatre, Victoria, British Columbia, 14.4.2012 (BJ)
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Pelléas et Mélisande in Helsinki
Finland Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande: Finnish National Opera, Mikko Franck (conductor), Helsinki, 9.4.2012 (GF)
Heritage Opera Gives Very Satisfying Account of Rigoletto
United Kingdom Verdi: Rigoletto: Heritage Opera, Jonathan Ellis (pianist/musical director), Preston Minster, 13.4.2012 (MC)
Breth and Barenboim’s Lulu a Travesty of Berg’s Opera
Germany Berg, Lulu: Soloists, Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim (conductor). Schiller Theater, Berlin, 9.4.2012 (MB)
Good Orchestral Playing in a Colourless Production of Manon
United States Massenet , Manon: Soloists, Chorus & Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York/Fabio Luisi (conductor), 7.4.2012 (CC)
Auber’s Bronze Horse Fails to Justify Wagner’s Esteem
Germany Auber, Le Cheval de bronze: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Komische Oper, Berlin, Maurizio Barbacini (conductor). Komische Oper, Berlin, 7.4.2012 (MB)
Rehabilitating Katerina: Graham Vick’s Lady Macbeth in Gothenburg
Sweden Shostakovich, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District: Gothenburg Opera, Finn Rosengren (conductor),Gothenburg, 24.3.2012 (NS)
Further Thoughts on the Mariinsky Opera’s Parsifal
United Kingdom Wagner, Parsifal: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Opera, Ex Cathedra, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 6.4.2012. (RJ)