UK Opera

All opera reviews from UK sources

Siobhan Stagg steps in as Susanna and is the undoubted star of David McVicar’s Marriage of Figaro revival

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro): Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Royal Opera / Julia Jones (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Rhodri Huw) to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, from Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 10.9.2024. (JPr)

David McVicar’s The Marriage of Figaro Act I © Clive Barda

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Garsington Opera’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a Proms evening of musical magic

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom PROM 68 – Garsington Opera’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Soloists, Garsington Opera Youth Company, Philharmonia Orchestra / Douglas Boyd (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, London, 10.9.2024. (KMcD)

Lucy Crowe (Tytania) and Daniel Vening (Bottom) © BBC/Chris Christodoulou

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Cumbria Opera Group’s brand new work Kings, Witches, Lovers and Souls showcases the region’s mythic past

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Jen Hartley, Kings, Witches, Lovers and Souls: Eleanor McIntosh (soprano), Anne Elizabeth Cooper (mezzo-soprano), Johnny Hill (baritone), Jonny Danciger (director), Cumbria Youth Chorus, Cumbria Opera Group / Joe Davies & Alastair Burton (co-musical directors), Penrith Playhouse, 31.8.2024. (SRT)

Eleanor McIntosh (soprano), Anne Elizabeth Cooper (mezzo-soprano), Johnny Hill (baritone) and members of Cumbria Opera Group © Christopher Tribble

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

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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

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

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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

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Andreas Homoki’s Carmen returns full circle to Paris’s Opéra-Comique at the EIF

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Edinburgh International Festival 2024 [4]: Bizet, Carmen: Soloists, Accentus, Maitrise Populaire de l’Opéra-Comique, Scottish Chamber Orchestra / Louis Langrée (conductor), Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 8.8.2024 (SRT)

Opéra-Comique’s Carmen: the smugglers’ quintet © Andrew Perry

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