Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

Visually compelling but sometimes incomprehensible staging of Gounod’s Faust in Valencia

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SpainSpain Gounod, Faust: Soloists, Generalitat Valenciana Chorus, Comunitat Valenciana Orchestra / Lorenzo Viotti (conductor). Palau de Les Arts, Valencia, 5.10.2025. (JMI)

Alex Esposoto (Méphistophélès), Gemma Coma-Alabert (Marthe), Ruth Iniesta (Marguerite) and Iván Ayón-Rivas (Faust) © Arts Fotografía

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Sir Simon Rattle conducting in Munich allowed for more discovery of detail in Berg’s Wozzeck

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GermanyGermany 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)

Christian Gerhaher (Wozzeck), conductor Sir Simon Rattle, Malin Byström (Marie) and BRSO  © BR/Astrid Ackermann

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Auspicious start to the Kratzer and Wellber Hamburg tenure with Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri

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GermanyGermany 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)

Vera-Lotte Boecker (Peri, centre front) and chorus of Hamburg State Opera © Monika Ritterhaus

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The warmth of the ENB’s dancers is evident in R:Evolution and the work of four ‘visionary creators’

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United KingdomUnited 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)

Emily Suzuki (The Woman) and Rentaro Nakaaki (The Creature of Fear) performing Graham’s Errand into the Maze © Photography by ASH

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Anna Netrebko impresses in Oliver Mears’s visceral, powerful and gripping new Tosca at Covent Garden

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United KingdomUnited 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)

Freddie De Tommaso (Cavaradossi) and Anna Netrebko (Tosca) © Marc Brenner

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A beautiful Barrie Kosky production of The Cunning Little Vixen in Barcelona

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SpainSpain Janáček, The Cunning Little Vixen: Soloists, Orfeó Catalá Children’s Chorus (director: Glòria Coma), Grand Teatre del Liceu Chorus (conductor: Pablo Assante) and Orchestra / Josep Pons (conductor). Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona, 29.9.2025. (JMI)

Elena Tsallagova (Little Vixen) © D. Ruano

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A vividly direct performance and production of Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris by Blackheath Halls Opera

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Gluck, Iphigenia in Tauris (Iphigénie en Tauride): Soloists, Students from Greenvale School and Charlton Park Academy, Blackheath Halls Chorus and Youth Company, Blackheath Halls Orchestra / Chris Stark (conductor). Blackheath Halls, London, 28.9.2025. (MB)

Francesca Chiejina (centre, Iphigénie)  and the cast of Iphigenia in Tauris © Julian Guidera

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