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Opera

Where diversity and reality meet …

Both contributors to this organ and its followers know that the Rust’s mission statement is built around its stance of providing a “window upon the world” from the point of view of those of us who have passed beyond “the first flush of youth” yet retain possess an independence of mind and [...]

March 15, 2022 // 0 Comments

Ruler of the Queen’s Navy/HMS Pinafore

The other day I was sitting next to a fellow over dinner who turned out to be a professional tribunal chairperson adjudicating on military cases. He spent a good deal of time in Plymouth on naval cases. For this he had earned the honorary title of Rear Admiral. This made me think of the humorous [...]

February 12, 2022 // 0 Comments

Casting to type – an interesting aspect of modern sensitivities

In these modern times of saturation-coverage of fashionable issues such as  “levelling up”, diversity, equality, transgender rights versus those who argue these affect “women born as women” (if I’m even allowed to use that phrase) – just “wokedom” [...]

February 5, 2022 // 0 Comments

Cosi fan tutte ( Glyndebourne) & opera v musicals

Last night I saw Cosi fan tutte at Glyndebourne. It was the third cooperation between Mozart and the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. It might be termed opera buffa (comic opera) as it’s light-hearted, even silly, and unlikely to resonate with a modern audience. The story is of two soldier [...]

August 11, 2021 // 0 Comments

La Traviata

This Sir Richard Eyre production was streamed last night by Covent Garden. It was – thank goodness – a traditional representation of Verdi’s masterpiece based on Alexandre Dumas’s The Lady of the Camelias.   It benefits from a strong story line of Violetta (Hrachuki Bajseoz) a [...]

May 9, 2020 // 0 Comments

Cosi Fan Tutte/streamed from Royal Opera House

As part of the collective arts effort to continue to operate in the face of social distancing and then the lockdown, the Royal Opera House are streaming opera on Friday night. Last night was Cosi Fan Tutte, the last co-operation of Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Ponte. Opera goers and lovers [...]

April 11, 2020 // 0 Comments

Some things keep changing – and some don’t

It is of these things that in the world of entertainment some of the standard rules of business apply and some don’t. In one sense it’s an obvious point to make – and no doubt most sectors (e.g. fishing, fashion, flying and … er porn) would probably claim similar – but few have been more [...]

March 8, 2020 // 0 Comments

I think I’m turning Japanese … [Not?]*

(Note: * above is a reference to the worldwide single hit Turning Japanese by The Vapors, taken off their 1980 album New Clear Days). Despite our Rust delegation out in Japan continuing to set new standards of reporting excellence, overnight I spotted a piece in the British media suggesting that [...]

October 30, 2019 // 0 Comments

Elisir D’Amore/ Glyndebourne on tour

After the road crash that was Rigoletto my faith in Glyndebourne was restored last night by its production of Donizetti’s comic opera Elisir d’Amore. It was respectful of the text of the story, had a good set and the singing was excellent, especially the South Korean tenor Sehoon Moon as [...]

October 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

Rigoletto/ Glyndebourne on Tour

Rule One of the New York Stock Exchange: “Know your client. ” It’s something the director of Rigoletto Christiane Lutz might have taken on board. The audience at Glyndebourne is elderly. I saw few there last night under 65. They expect a traditional Rigoletto but this is not what they [...]

October 15, 2019 // 0 Comments

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