Category Archives: Opera

Love, intrigue… and black paint-play: Luisa Miller at ENO

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Verdi: Luisa Miller English National Opera, 12th February 2020 Luisa Miller hasn’t had much luck in London. Olivier Tambosi’s 2003 staging for The Royal Opera “vandalised Verdi” (The Observer), while Olivia Fuchs’ for Holland Park the following year was “badly … Continue reading →

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Welsh National Opera tackles Les Vêpres siciliennes but the vocal fireworks fail to ignite

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Verdi: Les Vêpres siciliennes  Welsh National Opera, Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 8th February 2020 “Enough work to kill a bull!” was Verdi’s complaint about the effort of writing for the Paris Opéra. Les Vêpres siciliennes was the composer’s first original work … Continue reading →

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“Esultate!” Kunde’s Otello impresses at Covent Garden

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Mark Pullinger

Verdi: Otello Royal Opera, 9th December 2019 It’s good to have expectations confounded. For much of his career, American tenor Gregory Kunde specialised in bel canto repertoire, his light, flexible voice ideal for Rossini with easy top notes that also … Continue reading →

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Scarpia stabbed, Tosca smothered by Livermore’s La Scala staging

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Mark Pullinger

Puccini: Tosca Teatro alla Scala, 7th December 2019 A stone lion pins down its prey in Scarpia’s study, symbolic, no doubt, of the cat-and-mouse game the Chief of Police plays with Tosca in Act 2. But it could also represent … Continue reading →

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A long road to nowhere for Igor at the Bastille

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Mark Pullinger

Borodin: Prince Igor Opéra national de Paris, Bastille, 1st December 2019 Gone are the days when Borodin’s Prince Igor was presented as dry historical pageant, dusty stagings of static tableaux. Directors now prefer to tap into the psychology of the … Continue reading →

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