Author Archives: Mark Pullinger

Great Britten: Death in Venice returns to Covent Garden in superb new staging

Britten: Death in Venice Royal Opera, 21st November 2019 “Britten doesn’t sell.” Until Deborah Warner’s impressive production of Billy Budd last April, The Royal Opera hadn’t put any Britten on the main stage since Richard Jones’ (admittedly naff) Gloriana in … Continue reading

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Sylphs and tales from the harem: Kazakh State Ballet makes its UK debut

Scheherazade/ Chopiniana Abay Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Coliseum, 17th November 2019 Citing Attila the Hun with pride, Erlan Idrissov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UK, declared to the Coliseum audience that his country was launching a “cultural … Continue reading

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Poetic Rachmaninov from Lugansky, but Rouvali’s Swan Lake not always on pointe

Rouvali/ Philharmonia Royal Festival Hall, 3rd November 2019 “See the music, hear the dance.” Few have encapsulated the relationship between dance and music as deftly as the great choreographer George Balanchine. Presenting ballet scores in concert raises issues. Liberated from … Continue reading

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Dangerous Liaisons and Magic Horns close Oxford Lieder

Louise Alder, Nikolay Borchev, Konstantin Krimmel Oxford Lieder, 26th October 2019 There is something deliciously perverse about opening the final recital of a 16-day, 80-event song festival with an opera overture, but Sholto Kynoch, pianist, artistic director and programming mastermind … Continue reading

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Rossinian Bake-Off: a delicious double bill at Wexford

Synott: La cucina Rossini: Adina Wexford Festival Opera, 24th October 2019 As operatic incarcerations go, being confined to a giant wedding cake isn’t so bad. This is the fate of the heroine in Rossini’s Adina, or at least in Rosetta … Continue reading

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