ROH Live Screening: Verdi’s Macbeth
The warrior Macbeth fights on the side of the King of Scotland – but when a coven of witches prophesy that he shall become king himself, a ruthless ambition drives…
ROH Encore Screening: Bizet’s Carmen
The young soldier Don José intends to marry Micaëla, a girl from his home village. But when he meets the sensual and fiercely independent Carmen, he sacrifices everything to be…
Sophisticated Christmas sparkle: The Firework-Maker’s Daughter at the Royal Opera House
Directed by John Fulljames, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter is a gently exotic and quietly magical act of storytelling, with a strong female hero, a vibrant score with strong, tuneful melodies from David…
Cabin pressure rising: Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse at the Linbury
Half urban myth, half folklore, the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers from the Flannan Isles one night in 1900 has never been satisfactorily explained. Theories abound; questions linger. As a…
A bewildering bed of roses: King Size at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House
King Size is an ultra-modern take on the German tradition of Liederabend, or the “evening of song”, mixing Schumann, Wagner and Schubert with the Jackson 5 and Stephen Sondheim. This…
Give us this day our daily Brecht: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
From its stunningly filmic opening to its faux-Golgotha finale, the Royal Opera House’s new production of Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny demands our attention. We all know that…
A Tosca which falls flat? Dyka /Alagna at the ROH
Oksana Dyka sang at the 2005 inauguration of President Viktor Yushchenko (or so Wikipedia confidently assures me). Only two months afterwards, she would star in her very first Tosca. Nine years…
Just Look Back in Anger: Tippett’s King Priam
English Touring Opera take Tippett’s powerful pacifist retelling of Homer’s Iliad on tour in a strong, beautifully designed production, directed by James Conway, which will leave hearts and minds in turmoil. In…
No light without darkness: Inside Wagner’s Head with Simon Callow
Simon Callow’s new show, part of the Deloitte Ignite Verdi/Wagner festival, curated by Stephen Fry, makes the strong and valid point that the reason some people hate Wagner so much…
Lost and Found: unravelling meaning in Harrison Birtwistle’s Minotaur
A new opera creates a certain stir. And there’s a selfconscious ‘we’re here to be brutalised’ atmosphere among the audience: we think we’re tough enough for this, to watch Birtwistle…