I was a bit surprised to see Jeffrey Tate billed as the conductor for Der fliegende Holländer. "He conducts Mozart" I thought to myself. Well, it was slightly slower than usual - about 2.5 hours run time - which enable one to listen more careful to the orchestration and melodic lines. Egils Silins was a competent Holländer - with sufficient gravitas and lyricism in his voice. Stephen Milling was a very good Daland. Anja Kampe was OK as Senta - her high notes were a bit forced which left one on edge sometimes. The production was beginning to lose its novelty - the rustling of the wet curtain during the overture was a terrible reminder for those who didn't visit the bathroom beforehand ...
Michael Levine's set design for Dialogues des Carmélites was minimalist. Actually, was there any set design? I suppose the director Robert Carsen was clever at introducing formation of human figures in many different ways to suggest the context of the opera. It kind of worked. Blanche, sung by Sally Matthews, was pretty good. Though I did find the whole work quite tedious - I think the intimate nature of the dialogues needed a small and intimate performing space i.e. not the Royal Opera House. The ending was worth waiting for. Dramatic. Poignant.
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