Against the backdrop of the Hanging Gardens, Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, defies bad omens and supernatural threats in her quest to find a worthy successor to her late husband. But she harbours more than one dark secret, and whoever gains the throne may find that he has lost more than he has won. Based on…
Melly Still’s magical production of Janáček‘s The Cunning Little Vixen (revival, 2012) is back, the only opera I know to have been born from a comic strip. Still’s vision balances a fine naturalistic sense with elements of Eastern European folktale and cartoon to deliver a world of animals bursting with colour, while humans exist in monochrome…
Summer garden opera simply doesn’t get more glamourous than Garsington. The stunning lakeside setting at Wormsley, the Getty family’s oil-painting-perfect English retreat, sets off any picnic to perfection; there’s even an army of Scouts to carry your basket for you (tips go towards their Scout Hut). The evening should impress on stage too: Garsington’s elegant…
Sharply styled in modern colours over a traditional 18th century setting, with some truly inspired lighting by Wayne Dowdeswell, Longborough ’s Barber of Seville does not seek to break the mould of this old Rossini favourite, but rather to give it a good airing in polished style which everyone can enjoy. Click here to read…
In this exuberant production at the Royal College of Music, directed by Donald Maxwell and Linda Ormiston and updated to Berlusconi’s Bunga Bunga Italy of the 1990s, Rossini’s comic opera certainly dazzles us, not only with some exciting singing from the fresh voices in the RCM Opera School, but also with fabulous costumes by Jools…