Set in Paris immediately before and during the French Revolution, Andrea Chénier is Umberto Giordano’s passionate and most successful opera. Placido Domingo stars in the title role as the idealistic poet of the French Revolution, and Maddalena, the object of Chénier’s adoration, is portrayed by the Bulgarian soprano Anna Tomowa-Sintow. A servant-turned-revolutionary, Gérard, also loves Maddalena, and when he is elevated to the revolutionary court he wreaks his revenge against Chénier who is condemned to death. Maddalena joins Chénier in his cell and they go to the guillotine together. Gérard, torn between political and amorous loyalties, is the Italian baritone Giorgio Zancanaro. “Triumphantly successful” THE SUNDAY TIMES
La Fanciulla del West
Puccini’s penultimate opera, based on the play by David Belasco, and which marked a new stylish departure for him, is set at the height of the notorious Californian Gold Rush. The orchestration and musical colour of this opera represent a major advance on Puccini’s previous work, especially in the careful interweaving of Western elements into an altogether larger canvas than anything he had tackled before. In this recording Piero Faggioni’s highly detailed staging is matched by Ken Adam’s superbly atmospheric sets. Carol Neblett sings the role of Minnie – ‘The Girl of the Golden West’ – Placido Domingo is as ignitable as ever in the role of Dick Johnson, alias the bandit Ramirez, and Silvano Carroli is the sinister Sheriff, Jack Rance.
Judas Tree
Kenneth MacMillan choreographed his last ballet, The Judas Tree, especially for Irek Mukhamedov who takes the lead in this striking production. On a building site in dockland wastes, thirteen workmen, led by their Foreman, react to the vampish behaviour of a woman who has arrived in their midst. In the heated confusion of the group, one man stands alone in the tenderness of his response. Gradually the dark underside of male sexuality and the power of peer pressure are exposed as the ballet sucks us into a web of betrayal, loss and terror.
La Fille mal gardée
Frederick Ashton’s delightful ballet has proved irresistible to audiences of all ages and The Royal Ballet’s production has immediate appeal for newcomers to ballet as well as for those who return time and again to enjoy its lyrical comedy. It is a ballet set in the English countryside, telling how Lise manages to win the hand of the man she loves – the young farmer, Colas – despite her mother’s determination to marry her off to the dim-witted son of a wealthy vineyard owner. This is one of the great masterpieces of The Royal Ballet’s repertory, created by Frederick Ashton, set amid the witty designs of Osbert Lancaster, with Hérold’s delightful melodies to inspire the performances by some of the Company’s leading artists.
ROH: Lessons in Love and Violence
Lessons in Love and Violence, the new opera by composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp, two of Britain’s most celebrated artists, received a glowing reception from audiences and critics alike on its world premiere at the Royal Opera House in London. In a modern day setting it tells the powerful and thrilling story of King Edward II, whose romantic relationship with the Earl of Cornwall, Piers Gaveston, tears his country and his family apart. Barbara Hannigan is as “outstanding as ever”! (Financial Times)
La Voix Humaine
“This innovative hour-long reimagining… is at once an operatic vignette and an acting showcase — well worth your time.” (The Times) La Voix Humaine, as visualised by Emmy and Bafta winning director James Kent offers an unprecedented cinematic interpretation of Poulenc’s masterpiece. As an hour long dramatic one-off, it features only one performer, the character known only as Elle. It was premiered in Paris in 193 as a play by Jean Cocteau and subsequently turned into music drama by his friend Francis Poulenc in 1959. Written originally in 1928, Cocteau was examining change that the technology of the telephone was to bring to humans and how they conducted their relationships. “In spite of it all, we are connected by this telephone… this line is the last thing tying me to us”. The viewer is skilfully placed as a silent observer of Elle’s desperate conversation, captured in the intimate and claustrophobic setting of a single apartment. Her hopes, her longings, her nostalgia, and her final acceptance, all illuminated by a powerful score conducted by Antonio Pappano. We feel her pain as she grapples with love and loss over the course of one late afternoon via a single, suspenseful, often interrupted, telephone call with her departing lover.