United Kingdom Britten, The Rape of Lucretia: Soloists, English Touring Opera / Gerry Cornelius (conductor), Hackney Empire, London, 4.10.2025. (AK)
ETO’s The Rape of Lucretia is a top quality, deeply moving theatrical and musical experience
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
A rollicking and intense Dido from Apollo’s Fire claims the stage in Ohio and beyond
United States Purcell, Dido & Aeneas: Soloists, Apollo’s Singers, Apollo’s Fire / Jeannette Sorrell (music director and conductor). Greystone Hall, Akron, 3.10.2025. (MSJ)
Visually compelling but sometimes incomprehensible staging of Gounod’s Faust in Valencia
Spain Gounod, Faust: Soloists, Generalitat Valenciana Chorus, Comunitat Valenciana Orchestra / Lorenzo Viotti (conductor). Palau de Les Arts, Valencia, 5.10.2025. (JMI)
Sir Simon Rattle conducting in Munich allowed for more discovery of detail in Berg’s Wozzeck
Germany Berg, Wozzeck (concert performance): Soloists, Chorus of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Children’s Chorus of Bavarian State Opera, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (conductor). Isarphilharmonie, Munich, 5.10.2025. (AL-L)
A noteworthy concert performance of Mascagni’s little-known Iris in Madrid
Spain Mascagni, Iris (concert performance): Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Real / Daniele Callegari (conductor). Teatro Real, Madrid, 4.10.2025. (JMI)
Auspicious start to the Kratzer and Wellber Hamburg tenure with Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri
Germany Robert Schumann, Das Paradies und die Peri: Soloists, Hamburg State Opera Chorus, Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Omer Meir Wellber (conductor). Hamburg State Opera, 30.9.2025. (DM-D)
The warmth of the ENB’s dancers is evident in R:Evolution and the work of four ‘visionary creators’
United Kingdom Balanchine/Graham/Forsythe/Dawson – R:Evolution: Dancers of English National Ballet, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Maria Seletskaja (conductor). Sadler’s Wells, London, 1.10.2025. (JO’D)
Anna Netrebko impresses in Oliver Mears’s visceral, powerful and gripping new Tosca at Covent Garden
United Kingdom Puccini, Tosca: Soloists, Chorus, Children’s Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Jakub Hrůša (conductor). Filmed (directed for the screen by Peter Jones) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in September 2025 and broadcast to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 1.10.2025. (JPr)
