Prom 59: Benvenuto Cellini
Gardiner/ ORR, Royal Albert Hall, 2nd September 2019
“Concert performance” the Proms Guide had announced, primly underselling what turned out to be an exuberant “production” – fully costumed, if without many actual props – of Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini. This opera semiseria, a fictionalised account of the wild escapades of the Renaissance sculptor, shifting the action from Florence to Rome and culminating in the forging of his great masterpiece, Perseus with the Head of Medusa. With fiery red lighting and smoke effects, Duncan Meadows – sporting a bronze spray tan and not much else – appeared as the statue, crowning Noa Naamat’s effective staging.
Duncan Meadows as the statue of Perseus
© BBC | Chris Christodoulou
Click here to read the full review on Bachtrack.