Articles
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1 week ago |
musicomh.com | Sam Smith
Verdi’s 14th century Genoa transported to the Theatre in the Woods in West Horsley. Grange Park Opera’s production of Simon Boccanegra started life at Welsh National Opera in 1997, when it was directed by David Pountney. If there are a few signs that this staging was originally created for another time and place, there may well have been many more had not revival director Robin Tebbutt done such a good job of making it fit for its new setting.
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2 weeks ago |
musicomh.com | Sam Smith
Breaking the fourth wall in an innovative and thoughtful production. Approaches to staging Così fan tutte have changed over time. For a long period it was common to set the action in the modern day, as Jonathan Miller did for his 1995 staging for the Royal Opera House. His production featured mobile phones, laptops and Starbucks coffees, and thirty years ago these things felt quite new, both in everyday life and on a stage.
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3 weeks ago |
musicomh.com | Sam Smith
The magic is just as strong the second time around. Jonathan Dove’s Itch was commissioned by Opera Holland Park and premiered at the venue in 2023. It was written especially for the cast who performed it on that occasion, and the vast majority of its members reprise their roles now. Two performers are new, but it would be impossible for anyone who was unaware to work out who they were, because they similarly fit their parts well.
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3 weeks ago |
musicomh.com | Sam Smith
An unusual opera in more ways than one at Cadogan Hall. Vincenzo Bellini’s La straniera, which premiered at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala on 14 February 1829, is quite an unorthodox opera in terms of both its story and music. The Italian libretto by Felice Romani is based on either Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d’Arlincourt’s 1825 novel L’Étrangère, or a dramatisation of that novel in Italian by Giovan Carlo, barone di Cosenza.
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3 weeks ago |
musicomh.com | Sam Smith
Could this presentation of the tale feel any more ghostly? It is hard to believe that The Flying Dutchman is the first opera by Richard Wagner that Opera Holland Park has ever presented, because it suits the venue so well. The shapes found in the roof of the tented auditorium naturally suggest sails, and are imitated on this occasion in the backdrop to the stage.
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