Opera

This was an excellent production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia Rossini’s great opera buffa (comic opera), based upon the play by Pierre Beaumarchais. The story is of the triumph of true love: that of Count Almaviva (Jonah Hoskins) and Rosina (Cecilia Molinari), the ward of Dr. Bartolo who also [...]

Yesterday I returned to Glyndebourne for the second time in a week for their production of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.  They are arguably the most famous lovers in opera, that is, if we regard Romeo and Juliet as less the opera of Gounod and more the theatre of William Shakespeare. So [...]

Franz Léhar’s operetta, written in 1905, is actually a musical and really marked the end of one genre  (the operetta) and beginning of another (the musical). The story is simple. Hanna Glawari (Danielle de Niese) is the rich widow from Pontevedro, in Paris for a party at the Pontevedro [...]

In the 10 years since I have been going regularly to Glyndebourne, first as an associate member and now a full one, the place, experience and productions have all changed significantly. The most significant change is the relaxation of the dress code: one visitor for Carmen last Wednesday was [...]

This month I was elevated in status from associate to full membership of Glyndebourne. Initially my reaction was ‘What ‘s the big deal? ‘ – apart from an increased sub? However with the letter they sent me a Short History of History of Glyndebourne by Michael Kennedy. Reading the story [...]