Charles Bonnet syndrome gives its patients random or recurring hallucinations while they are entirely conscious, without upsetting their mental balance, although the very appearance of the hallucinations can naturally lead…
Opera Loki’s vision for Rigoletto is strongly Victorian, with white painted faces, stage makeup and traditional, yet simple costumes. Directed by Rae Leaver, the production’s vision is that of “a ragged group…
Masetto (now an impoverished immigrant artist, more reminiscent of Puccini’s poet Rodolfo than Mozart’s Masetto) and Zerlina (all girlish scruples definitely removed, along with most of her charm) encounter Don Giovanni…
OperaView have created a small and intense production in which Menotti’s music comes across clearly: a ravishing piano accompaniment, played by Maite Aguirre, veers from schmaltzy sweetness, reminiscent of a…
Psyche – Alex Groves Psyche asks us to get up close and personal with opera (alone, barefoot and blindfolded) for ten minutes, and the results are, to me, spine-tingling. On…
Njogel opens with spectacular beauty, with a small wooden ship bobbing up and down along a ship’s boom, its furled sail representing the waves of the sea around the Shetland…
A stylised and intense form of high drama, Japanese Noh is undoubtedly as well suited to operatic treatment as Greek tragedy. Powerful emotions, violent actions and brutal social strictures abound…
None of our Royals’ chaotic personal arrangements have been so constitutionally cataclysmic as Edward VIII’s passion for Wallis Simpson. Britain’s flag-waving fervour during the Royal Wedding, the Jubilee and the…
Unfortunately, despite strong instrumentation and committed singing, Possession! just doesn’t quite work in practice, and remains permanently hamstrung by its flat production. We leave this opera, therefore, an extremely long way…
The Fisherman’s Brides is a small opera set in a Highland fishing village, giving voice to the thoughts and fears of the women left behind as their men go off to…