Tag Archives: Clive Bayley

Billy Budd finally drops anchor again at The Royal Opera

Britten: Billy Budd Royal Opera, 23rd April 2019 It was time Billy came home. The Flying Dutchman puts in to shore every seven years, but the HMS Indomitable hasn’t dropped anchor at Covent Garden in nearly two decades. The Royal … Continue reading

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One for sorrow: Claus Guth directs a taut, dark Clemenza di Tito at Glyndebourne

Mozart: La clemenza di Tito *** Glyndebourne, 26th July 2017 A single magpie settles on a branch beside a lake. Two boys stalk through the long reeds. The older one hands the younger, fair-haired lad a slingshot and watches as … Continue reading

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A silvery Dream lost among the shadows: Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival

Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream **** Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh Festival, 12th June 2017 Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an opera swathed in a sensual, yet sinister score, conjured from a tiny ensemble where Oberon’s fairy kingdom is evoked by glistening glockenspiel, … Continue reading

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Les Martyrs: Revelatory Donizetti on disc from Opera Rara

Donizetti: Les Martyrs  When Donizetti’s rarity Poliuto opened the 2015 Glyndebourne Festival a week ago, the music would already have been familiar to a number of audience members. Only last autumn, those operatic archaeologists Opera Rara had put on a … Continue reading

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Opera Rara: Donizetti’s Les Martyrs a revelation

Donizetti: Les Martyrs ***** Opera Rara, Royal Festival Hall, 4th November 2014 There is no shortage of rare Donizetti operas set in exotic locations – Emilia di Liverpool, Zoroaida di Granata, Harrison di Accrington (okay, artistic license exercised on that final one) – so … Continue reading

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