MacMillan’s Flawed Manon is Redeemed by ENB’s Exhilarating Company Performance

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Massenet, Manon (choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan): Dancers of English National Ballet, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Gavin Sutherland (conductor). London Coliseum. 16.1.2019. (JPr)

Alina Cojocaru (Manon) & Joseph Caley (Des Grieux) (c) Laurent Liotardo

Read more

Three Star Singers Breathe Life into Cilea’s Flawed Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met

United StatesUnited States Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of The Metropolitan Opera, New York / Gianandrea Noseda (conductor). Broadcast Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera to Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex, 12.1.2019. (JPr)

Anna Netrebko (Adriana), Piotr Beczała (Maurizio) & Anita Rachvelishvili (Princess)
(c) Ken Howard/Met Opera

Read more

Griff Rhys Jones is Superb as Scrooge in LMTO’s Joyous A Christmas Carol

United KingdomUnited Kingdom LMTO – A Christmas Carol (Mike Ockrent [book], Lynn Ahrens [book and lyrics] and Alan Menken [music]): Soloists, London Music Theatre Chorus and Orchestra / Freddie Tapner (conductor). Lyceum Theatre, London, 17.12.2018. (JPr)

LMTO’s A Christmas Carol – ‘Abundance and Charity’

Read more

Michael Mayer’s Disneyfied Traviata is Not the Most Auspicious Start for Nézet-Séguin

United StatesUnited States The Met: Live in HD – Verdi, La traviata: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Broadcast live to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 15.12.2018. (JPr)

Alfredo (Juan Diego Flórez) & Violetta (Diana Damrau) in La traviata Act I
(c) Marty Sohl/Met Opera

Read more

Simon Callow’s Uplifting, Yet Thought-Provoking, New Film Version of A Christmas Carol

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow: Adaptation by Tom Cairns and Simon Callow; Production designed by Marie Lanna; Cinematography by David Raedeker. Screened at Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 11.12.2018. (JPr)

Simon Callow in A Christmas Carol

Read more

O’Sullivan, Sambé, Nuñez and Muntagirov Transcend the Routine in The Royal Ballet’s Familiar The Nutcracker

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker (choreography by Peter Wright): Soloists, corps de ballet, London Oratory Junior Choir, Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Barry Wordsworth (conductor). Recorded at the Royal Opera House on 3 December and screened at Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex, 10.12.2018. (JPr)

Clara (Anna Rose O’Sullivan) and Hans-Peter (Marcelino Sambé)
in The Nutcracker Act I (c) Alistair Muir

Read more