Tag Archives: Pavel Cernoch

A long road to nowhere for Igor at the Bastille

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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Thrills, chills and an immersive auto-da-fé: Konwitschny’s Don Carlos sizzles in Hamburg

Verdi: Don Carlos Staatsoper Hamburg, 30th May 2019 “Beware my Grand Inquisitor!” The Hamburg audience would do well to heed Phliip II’s warning to the Marquis de Posa in Peter Konwitschny’s production of Don Carlos. During the first interval, there … Continue reading

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Netrebko in majestic form as Tatyana in Paris Onegin

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin *** Opéra de Paris, Bastille, 16th May 2017 The operatic merry-go-round is a strange beast. In April, Peter Mattei and Anna Netrebko were starring together in Deborah Warner’s production of Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera, the final … Continue reading

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Finding release among the poppy fields: Dmitri Tcherniakov’s powerful Prince Igor reaches Amsterdam

Borodin: Prince Igor **** Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, 7th February 2017 When faced with Disaster rather than Triumph, how does a true leader respond? The ability to “watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build … Continue reading

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Sultry, fiery, coquettish: Stéphanie d’Oustrac’s Carmen has it all

Bizet: Carmen **** Glyndebourne, 23rd May 2015 “The very incarnation of vice” was how one critic described Célestine Galli-Marié’s Carmen at the opera’s 1875 Opéra Comique première. That description could equally be applied to Stéphanie d’Oustrac in Glyndebourne’s revival of … Continue reading

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