Welsh National Opera’s previous production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, by Joachim Herz, stayed in their repertoire for 40 years. The company’s brand-new production, unveiled this season, faces not only the challenge of comparison with a much-loved predecessor, but...
Mozart's La clemenza di Tito is currently undergoing a process of reappraisal by reinterpretation, the most radical in a flurry of recent productions being Peter Sellars' for the 2017 Salzburg Festival. That turned librettist Metastasio's "traitors" into "terrorists"...
Composer Umberto Giordano and librettist Luigi Illica stuffed their 1896 opera Andrea Chénier full of setting-specific details from the French Revolution. All the leading figures of that time are referenced, whether in a major role, a cameo, or in passing. Probably...
Of course it is a gross simplification to say that Donizetti is all about the singing; but the focus is undeniably on beautiful, exciting and agile voices. And Welsh National Opera’s 2019 presentation of Roberto Devereux, which I saw in Birmingham on Mar. 8th,...