Alessandro Carletti Archives - North West End UK

19May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Die Walküre – Royal Ballet & Opera

Following 2023’s Das Rheingold, conductor Antonio Pappano and director Barrie Kosky reunite to continue the mythical adventure with Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), the second work of Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. On a stormy night, fate brings Siegmund (Stanislas de Barbeyrac) to the door of Sieglinde (Natalya Romaniw), the fearful wife of bully Hunding (Soloman Howard), unleashing a love with the power to end worlds. Meanwhile, in the realm of the gods, an epic battle ensues between their ruler Wotan (Christopher Maltman) and his rebellious daughter, Brünnhilde (Elisabet Strid), after his wife Fricka (Marina Prudenskaya) has laid her own law down to him, and the battle of the Valkyries – Helmwige (Maida Hundeling); Ortlinde (Katie Lowe); Gerhilde (Lee Bisset); ...

The Tales of Hoffmann – Royal Ballet & Opera

18Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Tales of Hoffmann – Royal Ballet & Opera

Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann is one of his most enduring operas, with the suggestion that it is incomplete – it premiered some four months after its composer’s death – lending it to interpretation which director Damiano Michieletto has taken full advantage of here in this lavishly visual staging which weaves magic and mystery through oft-imagined memories. At the tavern, poet Hoffmann (Juan Diego Flórez) is losing himself to drink. His rival in love, Councillor Lindorf (Alex Esposito), claims that Hoffmann knows nothing of the heart, and so goads Hoffmann into telling the tales of his three great loves – each destroyed by a villain who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lindorf… Accompanied by Nicklausse (Julie Boulianne), the oft ignored voice of reason throughout, Hoffmann te...

2May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Carmen – Royal Opera House

Director Damiano Michieletto’s desire to get away from 19th-century Seville sadly results in the loss of more than a picturesque background with its relocation to a small town in a remote and rural Spain in the 1970s and I still can’t fathom why he has chosen to introduce the character of Don José’s widowed mother to the stage when she is only ever referred to in the libretto. Thankfully for the audience the performance from the two charismatic leads salvages some of the passion and intrigue mostly lost in this presentation of this dark tale. In an unnamed town, naïve policeman Don José (Piotr Beczała) falls head over heads in love with Carmen (Aigul Akhmetshina), a seductive and free-spirited girl working at the local factory. Infatuated, Don José abandons his childhood sweetheart, Mic...

Das Rheingold – Royal Opera House (Live Transmission)

21Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Das Rheingold – Royal Opera House (Live Transmission)

When you put two geniuses together there is no guarantee that what they create will match the expectation; there is no such concern here as Antonio Pappano conducts Barrie Kosky’s bold new imagining of Wagner’s Das Rheingold with the musical brilliance of the orchestra matched by an outstanding cast. This production marks the start of a new Ring Cycle for The Royal Opera and this is undoubtedly a prelude of exciting things to come from the wonderful pairing of Pappano and Kosky. Any new production of Wagner’s Ring has to remain faithful to its mythical origins but also needs to find a way to connect to its modern audience, but that balance is achieved and some in this vibrant theatrical production set at the beginning of time and of life. Rufus Didwiszus’s simple yet symbolic monochr...