Don Pasquale at Glyndebourne

Something light-hearted at Glyndebourne. A new production of Don Pasquale. Alessandro Corbelli sang the title role with bags of experience. Vocally dramatic, but never too serious. Enough gusto. Danielle de Niese's Norina was, as expected, full of that joie de vivre. After a little over-acting at the beginning, she settled well into her role as the mischievous "bride". Nikolay Borchev's Malatesta was not bad either.

Julia Hansen's rotating set design was fun and light-hearted. Just the right amount. Mariame Clément' direction was interesting - not least by introducing a bit of double-entendre into the relationship between Malatesta and Norina (was there something going on?)

Enrique Mazzola was secure at the helm of the LPO.

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Written On Skin at the Royal Opera

This was the first revival of George Benjamin's Written On Skin. As with contemporary operas, familiarity goes a long way in appreciating the work. In this revival, I found Christopher Purves's The Protector powerful and moving. Barbara Hannigan, who sang Agnès, was superb. The pure and slightly eerie tone of Iestyn Davies as The Boy completed the perfect cast.

Götterdämmerung at The Met

Carl Fillion's set design for The Ring at The Met caused a real stir at the premier. Though not having the luxury of seeing the whole Ring, I managed to get a ticket to see Götterdämmerung. Fabio Luisi at the helm of the large Met orchestra kept everything going. There was enough breathing space for the drama to unfold, and there were muscular moments that needed to punctuate the drama. Probably not as poised as Bernard Haitink at Covent Garden many years ago, or as gutsy as Antonio Pappano this season in the same house. But nonetheless very good. Deborah Voigt was a fine Brünhilde - as the role demands from beginning to end. Lars Cleveman was quite a believable Siegfried - youngish looking, jumps about, looking slightly naive on stage. Hans-Peter Köonig was OK - none of his phrases sent shiver down my spine as there was not enough evil. Back to the set. The rotating 'fingers' really worked (you can see them in this pic - sitting above the performers), especially

La Voix Humaine, Glyndebourne

Stéphanie d’Oustrac starred in this one act / single cast Poulenc opera. The minimalist stage (Caroline Ginet) consisted of a tilting platform with an old fashioned dial telephone. But that's all it took for the drama to unfold. d’Oustrac was able to draw us into her conversation, expressing the challenging feelings of frustration, anxiety, disappointment and dare we say hope? A superb performance it was.

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