Saffron Opera Group’s Meistersinger for its 10th anniversary was a triumph over adversity

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Soloists, Saffron Opera Group Chorus (chorus director: James Davey), Saffron Opera Group Orchestra / Michael Thorne (conductor). Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, Essex, 15.9.2024. (JPr)

Saffron Opera Group’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (final scene) © Sara Platt

Read more

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

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

Read more

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

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

Read more

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

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

Read more

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

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

Read more

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

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

Read more