Operissima

Charlotte Valori reviews opera & theatre: in East Anglia and beyond…

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Opera on the cheap
    • Totally free opera!
    • Under 30 schemes
    • Under 35 schemes
  • Find opera
    • Touring opera
    • Fringe opera
    • Opera at the cinema
    • Opera on TV, radio and podcast
  • Events
  • About me
    • In print
  • Contact

Tag Archives: Handel

Everybody loves David: Handel’s Saul at Glyndebourne

Barrie Kosky’s vividly abstract production of Saul for Glyndebourne embraces every emotional detail of this dramatic oratorio, from its exhilarating choruses to its raw, intimate family scenes. Kosky adds voices beyond…

July 20, 2018 in Baroque, Oratorio.

Queen’s dating dilemma: Handel’s Partenope at Iford

Partenope is a perfect comic storm of seduction, jealousy, fidelity and infidelity, gender-bending and downright skulduggery, anchored in the sharp human tension of true love. Many of these tropes are familiar…

July 6, 2018 in Baroque, Opera.

Resurrection par excellence: Handel’s Messiah, Merry Opera

We gather in the glorious Arts and Crafts surroundings of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lowestoft, one of Suffolk’s most beautiful Catholic churches, on a summery April evening while…

April 23, 2018 in Opera, Oratorio.

Heartworn hoodlums: Handel’s Rodelinda, ENO

Even ruthless, psychotic gangsters have to fall in love sometimes. And Rodelinda is all about what happens when the people at the top of the cruel power pyramid have got their minds…

October 27, 2017 in Opera.

Dark, desperate, magnificent: Handel’s Jephtha, Iford

As Handel wrote Jephtha‘s haunting central chorus, “How dark, O Lord, are thy decrees,” his own sight temporarily failed him, and he had to break off work. Although he would live…

August 3, 2017 in Oratorio.

Small palette, big picture: Handel’s Acis and Galatea in Cambridge

Handel’s “little opera” Acis and Galatea suffers from something of an identity crisis: it exists in three versions, and has also been put forward as a candidate for at least three genres:…

May 26, 2016 in Baroque, Opera.

A dusty curio: Handel’s Berenice, regina d’Egitto

One of the main reasons Berenice, regina d’Egitto is performed so rarely is its notable lack of dramatic punch. Taut and skilful playing from La Nuova Musica, conducted from the…

March 18, 2016 in Baroque, Opera.

Fool for love: Handel’s Orlando at the Barbican

Some operas are just begging for a strapline: and if Orlando had one, it would surely be “Dorinda’s Dreadful Day”. First, Dorinda is plagued by doubts that the handsome African prince…

March 3, 2016 in Baroque, Opera.

A huge slice of Handel: Tamerlano, Il Pomo d’Oro, Barbican

It is just possible that Il Gran Tamerlano (music by A. Scarlatti) might have been the first opera Handel saw in Italy. Handel would have recently arrived in Florence in…

November 11, 2015 in Baroque, Opera.

Power-dressed and power hungry: Handel’s Agrippina at Iford

Bruno Ravella has updated the action of Handel’s Agrippina to the consumerist hell of the 1980s, giving us big hair, shoulder pads, cocaine and ruthlessness in spades. Agrippina, immaculately coiffured…

July 28, 2015 in Baroque, Opera.

Post navigation

← Older posts

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Archived Reviews

Operissima
Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Expound.
 

Loading Comments...