| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 27-Feb-2012 Theater an der Wien | Telemaco’s Desert Island Disc |
 With two happy endings, two recognition scenes, and a second act that seems more of a self-contained sequel than a conclusion to the first, Gluck’s Telemaco has come in for a musicological pasting over the years for its alleged weaknesses of dramatic content and construction. But the counter-appraisal has been just as forceful, with claims that a credible and beguiling whole can be made of its disjointed dramaturgy and stylistic diversity. After seeing this opera for the first time, I’m persuaded that the second view isn’t merely special pleading.Read full review... | |
| 25-Aug-2011 Royal Albert Hall | Glyndebourne's Rinaldo comes to the Proms |
 London audiences had never seen anything quite like it. Fireworks, fountains and live sparrows were just a few of the special effects livening up the premiere of Handel's Rinaldo way back in 1711, prompting the Spectator's critic to compare it sniffily to a Punch and Judy show. Fast forward two hundred years, and you might wonder if there's been any progress. The restrictions of the Royal Albert Hall stage, just an open dais set behind the orchestra, rule out anything too adventurous. So the only water was a blue tarpaulin, and the tweeting birds were digitally remastered.Read full review... | |
| 2-Jul-2011 Glyndebourne Opera House | Rinaldo at Glyndebourne |
 To Glyndebourne, for the opening night of Handel's Rinaldo, the first of his operas to be staged in London in 1711, when he was just 26 years old. The opera was a roaring success at the time and the most-repeated of all Handel's operas during his lifetime and yet has been over-shadowed in recent decades by his other great masterpieces, with the result that Richard's Carsen's new production for Glyndebourne is the first in Britain for over 30 years.Read full review... | |
