Island of Dreams, Grange Park Opera: a quixotic, overly literal take on The Tempest
Composer Anthony Bolton has an admirable go at adapting Shakespeare’s play but fails to add enough to the text
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Composer Anthony Bolton has an admirable go at adapting Shakespeare’s play but fails to add enough to the text
In this concert staging of Orlando, Iestyn Davies was peerless as the eponymous knight, surrounded by unhappy lovers and conniving magic-men
From a Mozart makeover to hip-hop meets Purcell, classics are imagined anew this season
Grange Festival’s revival is clean and classical – but the music doesn’t quite capture the incisiveness Stravinsky’s score requires
Opera grandee Stephen Barlow on his unusual pre-concert routine, why conducting has nothing to do with emotion – and his distinctive hair
The Merry Widow in this most rarified of country-house settings? She may not entirely belong here, but this staging sweeps you along even so
There is little innovation in this new production – but that’s no bad thing when the leads are as strong as this
Donizetti meets Gilbert and Sullivan in a performance that is not shy about finding the humour in the composer’s work
David Bates’s conducting leaves little flexibility and freedom for the voices to create their own drama out of Busenello’s vivid text
Judith Weir’s whimsical woodland psychodrama gets a film noir treatment – with a score so taut it threatens to burst
Grange Park’s season opens with a double bill crafted around the talents of Bryn Terfel – all-round sophisticated exuberance
A solid production, infectiously rhythmic conducting and some remarkable young talent on stage make for a hugely enjoyable evening
This gaudy 1896 drama is an odd choice for the swansong of Covent Garden’s great music director, but he just about pulls it off
Rameau’s opera has a deeply unpleasant plot, but Garsington’s exuberantly vulgar, expertly sung staging makes it fly
One of Britain’s finest conductors talks about the crisis at ENO and saying goodbye to the Hallé Orchestra after nearly quarter of a century
The founder of Opera Holland Park on arrogance in the industry, getting children into classical music and high-level philistinism
This biting new production wrenches the piece into the present, displaying a struggle for women’s autonomy in the face of male oppression
His Majesty was the special guest at a gala celebrating Sir Antonio Pappano, who conducted the coronation
This opera’s constant energy and drive was captured to the full by the small, taut forces of the Irish Baroque Orchestra
Thanks to devastating funding cuts from both the English and Welsh art councils, the future of this brilliant company is now at stake