Tag Archives: Justina Gringyte

Wheel of Fortune: Preziosilla spins Pountney’s Force of Destiny

Verdi: La forza del destino **** Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 2nd February 2018 When the entire plot is triggered by a freak accident, you can’t blame director David Pountney for making Fate itself the opera’s key character. The first scene of Verdi’s La … Continue reading

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Belly laugh: Verdi’s Falstaff ends CBSO season in high spirits

Verdi: Falstaff **** Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 13th July 2016 Laughter is indeed the best medicine. As we try and make sense of the continuing political fallout post EU referendum, the CBSO offered the perfect prescription in the ample form of … Continue reading

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An atmosphere filled with dust and testosterone: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

Bizet: Carmen *** English National Opera, 20th May 2015 Calixto Bieito’s Carmen is far removed from sun-drenched, picture postcard Seville. A bull and flamenco dresses make appearances, but these are nothing but illusions: the giant Osborne sherry company bull that looms … Continue reading

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To Paradise and back: a thrilling Le Roi de Lahore from Chelsea Opera Group

Massenet: Le Roi de Lahore **** Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1st March 2015 This is what Chelsea Opera Group was put on this earth for! Take an obscure grand opera that Covent Garden wouldn’t touch with a barge pole, prune it … Continue reading

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Sumptuously designed, but is this Rigoletto a ‘keeper’?

Verdi: Rigoletto *** English National Opera, 13th February 2014 The final revival in 2009 of Jonathan Miller’s Little Italy mafioso production of Rigoletto, a classic at English National Opera since it opened in 1982, was my first Opera Britannia review. … Continue reading

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