Tag Archives: Handel

Icy chic: Svetlana Zakharova as Coco Chanel in an airbrushed ballet tribute

Come un respiro/ Gabrielle Chanel Coliseum, 4th December 2019 “Fashion becomes unfashionable. Style never.” Coco Chanel was the epitome of style and there was no doubting it in Yuri Possokhov’s ballet which depicts the iconic couturière, created this year for … Continue reading

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Political power games in Kosky’s Agrippina at Covent Garden

Handel: Agrippina Royal Opera, 23rd September 2019 We were promised Agrippina as House of Cards, full of intrigue and political machinations, yet Barrie Kosky plays his joker frequently in a staging which borders on farce. On an austere set, he … Continue reading

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Jolly hockey sticks! Orliński rules as Rinaldo at Glyndebourne

Handel: Rinaldo Glyndebourne, 8th August 2019 Rotten Romans, the first film inspired by Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories books which have brought the past alive for decades of schoolchildren, opened in cinemas a fortnight ago. If they ever decide to tackle … Continue reading

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Semele crashes and burns, but Louise Alder soars up at Ally Pally

Handel: Semele Alexandra Palace, 2nd May 2019 “Behold a new-erected palace rise!” Iris tells Juno in Act 2 of Semele. Alexandra Palace wasn’t even built when Handel’s “bawdy opera” was premiered in Covent Garden in 1744, but its theatre is … Continue reading

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Carry on Cleo: Joélle Harvey leads terrific revival of Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne

Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto **** Glyndebourne, 10th June 2018 It’s back. Sir David McVicar’s ridiculously entertaining romp through Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto returns to Glyndebourne. Unveiled at the 2005 festival, where it made a star of Danielle de Niese (then Cleopatra, now châtelaine), … Continue reading

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