Alcina Glyndebourne Festival Opera, West Sussex ★★★★★ In Francesco Micheli’s new production of Handel’s Alcina, the lights go up on a little family whose dysfunctional demeanour sugg...Read More
La bohème Glyndebourne Festival Opera, ★★★★ It seems to matter more to Floris Visser that an audience should recognise his personal imprint, than whether he’s served a work as it d...Read More
Rinaldo, Glyndebourne It’s a great pity that this year’s Glyndebourne offering at the Proms should be its new Magic Flute, because that uneven show’s raison d’etre is sight gag...Read More
Pelléas et Mélisande, Glyndebourne Festival Opera The lost souls of Pelléas et Mélisande inhabit a castle; their drama takes place in a forest by the sea. Director Stefan Herheim initially toyed w...Read More
La traviata, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 2017 La traviata may be one of that small handful of operas which everyone loves, but since the revival of Tom Cairns’s production is turning out to ...Read More
Don Carlo, Covent Garden, 12.5.17 With its God-given melodies, ravishing orchestration, and intricate but whizzing plot, Verdi’s Don Carlo ticks all the boxes, including that of topicality 150 years...Read More
A youth opera about adolescent alienation? We’ve watched too many of them founder in their own plodding worthiness, and the heart sank at the prospect of yet another, particularly one travelling und...Read More