*** There was something slightly surreal about watching a nearly 30-year-old David Pountney production of Simon Boccanegra at Grange Park…
Fflur Wyn in The Excursions of Mr Brouček, Grange Park Opera
July 1, 2022Never shy from letting his imagination run riot on the opera stage, David Pountney and his design team have created…
Cardiff-based Polly Graham on opera at Longborough and further afield
May 25, 2022Cardiff-based opera and theatre director Polly Graham is Artistic Director of Longborough Opera in the Cotswolds. She was a Genesis…
No “yellow face” role problems for WNO’s Dubai “green” desert opera
October 15, 2021A troupe of Welsh singers are off to the desert sunshine for Welsh National Opera’s collaboration with the United Arab Emirates…
Stalin’s soft spot, Ivan the Terrible, Grange Park Opera
June 22, 2021After some high and lows during his tenure at Welsh National Opera, it is always with some slight trepidation I…
Peace and War in epic proportions, Welsh National Opera, La Forza del Destino
February 2, 2018Mary Elizabeth Williams Keyboards of hyperbole are clattered away every day on shows but rarely does something come along…
From the House of the Dead, Welsh National Opera
October 9, 2017In this season of revivals, with a quasi-Russian Revolution theme, a new Czech musical director Tomáš Hanus in post and…
WNO’s Russia-themed season with a Czech mate and some batty light relief
August 31, 2017This autumn Welsh National Opera will present three Russian-themed opera under the title Russian Revolution. The season will include performances…
Rebecca Evans to lead WNO’s summer season in a Viennnese whirl
April 11, 2017Welsh National Opera’s Summer season is a Viennese whirl with the cherry on the cake being a new production of Richard…
Merchant of Venice, Welsh National Opera
September 18, 2016Shakespeare’s Portia may be right that the quality of mercy is not strained but by curtain call the audience was…