Madame Butterfly enjoys extraordinary popularity today: even people who have never been to an opera in their lives could probably recognise its title. But why? Despite its surface familiarity, it’s a dark, upsetting piece, entirely devoid of romance, brimful of callous manipulation. Above all, its score is a far more challenging, experimental listen than we…
Puccini’s one-act operas Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi could hardly be more different: one is a moody romance ending in a grotesque murder on a barge in Paris, and the other is a sparkling comedy about a family inheritance in Florence. First performed in 2011 to great critical acclaim, this double bill shows Puccini at his finest as a…
Puccini’s one-act operas Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi could hardly be more different: one is a moody romance ending in a grotesque murder on a barge in Paris, and the other is a sparkling comedy about a family inheritance in Florence. First performed in 2011 to great critical acclaim, this double bill shows Puccini at his finest as a…
Puccini’s one-act operas Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi could hardly be more different: one is a moody romance ending in a grotesque murder on a barge in Paris, and the other is a sparkling comedy about a family inheritance in Florence. First performed in 2011 to great critical acclaim, this double bill shows Puccini at his finest as a…
Ellen Kent International bring a lavish touring production of Madama Butterfly to East Anglia, with international soloists, chorus and full orchestra. Performed with sumptuous sets and costumes, the opera is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Back by overwhelming public demand, this award winning opera returns with exquisite sets including a spectacular Japanese garden and fabulous costumes…
Ellen Kent International bring a lavish touring production of Madama Butterfly to East Anglia, with international soloists, chorus and full orchestra. Performed with sumptuous sets and costumes, the opera is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Back by overwhelming public demand, this award winning opera returns with exquisite sets including a spectacular Japanese garden and fabulous costumes…
The world’s most popular opera returns with an exciting young cast in Franco Zeffirelli’s legendary production. Poverty-stricken poet Rodolfo and his artist friends eke out a precarious existence in bohemian Paris, alternately practising their art, laughing, quarrelling, dodging the landlord, and living it up in their local cafe. When Rodolfo meets the delicate Mimì, the…
Tosca is one of the great evenings of opera, and from its strident opening chords conjures up a world of political instability and menace. Jonathan Kent’s production for The Royal Opera captures the dangerous political turbulence of Rome in 1800. Giacomo Puccini’s dramatic work was a hit with audiences at its 1900 première and it…
Please join me in the bar of the Fisher Theatre for a FREE pre-performance talk before the live cinema screening of Puccini’s Tosca from the Royal Opera House. I’ll be explaining a bit more about Puccini as a man who loved the best he could get – from fast cars to large cigars – and…
Tête-à-Tête is branching out ever further into new venues. Having been to a dance theatre and a nightclub, we now found ourselves in a school theatre. Fittingly, the evening’s programme was academically focused: Llywelyn ap Myrddin’s Sonata for YouTube, inspired by John Cage, and Jonathan Man’s Turandot Reimagined, which seeks to take Puccini’s orientalist opera back…