Tag Archives: Welsh National Opera

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

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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McVicar’s Traviata is still darkly impressive

Verdi: La traviata *** Welsh National Opera, Southampton, 23rd November 2018 “I loathe Traviata!” declared David McVicar back in 2003, ahead of his stage production of Camille at the Lyric, Hammersmith. “I could never do such a coarse, clumsy reduction of this woman.” Perhaps this … Continue reading

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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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Natalya Romaniw an imperious Tatyana as Tchaikovsky is unleashed from the Mayflower pit

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin *** Welsh National Opera, Mayflower Theatre, 18th October 2017 The Orchestra of Welsh National Opera is a splendid beast, from its growling double basses all the way up to its airy flutes, heard to thrilling effect in Eugene Onegin, part … Continue reading

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Plums and turkeys: a musical voyage around 2016

Most people I know cannot wait to see the back of 2016. But in the year in which Brexit, Trump and the Grim Reaper were the big winners, I admit to having had a terrific twelve months. A whirl of … Continue reading

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