Antonio Pappano Archives - North West End UK

3Apr

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Turandot – Royal Opera House

In spite of the date, it was sadly no joke that due to technical issues with the transmission, we lost the majority of the opening act and just when everything was set for the final act to unfold, further issues saw us stutter through the opening of Nessun Dorma before a freeze and then a jump to the next scene. All of this combined with the fact that the wrong programme information was sent out gives great cause for concern when opera is striving to reinforce its audience and its future with a selected live performance transmitted globally – on this occasion to over one thousand cinemas in twenty-two countries. None of this is the fault of the creatives and cast and having seen the 2023 revival, that serves as a useful point of reference for me to review this 2025 revival in spite of t...

14Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Andréa Chenier – Royal Opera House

David McVicar’s spectacular staging of Umberto Giordano’s epic verismo opera of revolution and forbidden love from 2015 is brought back to life by Revival Director Thomas Guthrie with the orchestra under the baton of Antonio Pappano in his last production as Music Director of The Royal Opera. At a glittering party in 18th-century Paris there are distinctly two tiers of society on display from the lowly footman Gérard (Amartuvshin Enkhbat) who follows in the footsteps of his father who has been in service for sixty years, to the sumptuous host, Contessa di Coigny (Rosalind Plowright), whose daughter Maddalena (Sondra Radvanovsky) straddles both as she eschews the fancy dress and faux manners in favour of intellectual discussion, so when the poet Andréa Chenier (Jonas Kaufmann) delivers a...

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...

The Marriage of Figaro – Royal Opera House

28Apr

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

The Marriage of Figaro – Royal Opera House

Mozart’s classic four-act comic opera, an adaptation with Da Ponte of Beaumarchais’ banned 1778 play about warring masters and servants, is delightfully brought to life in director David McVicar’s own revival of his 2006 production, again conducted by Antonio Pappano, of this satirical and deeply human drama. As the day of Figaro (Riccardo Fassi) and Susanna’s (Giulia Semenzato) wedding arrives, it becomes clear that their master, Count Almaviva (Davide Luciano), is keen to exercise his ‘droit du seigneur’ – his right to bed a servant girl on her wedding night – and they conspire with the forsaken Countess (Federica Lombardi) to outwit her husband and teach him a lesson in fidelity. Plans however are thrown awry when Bartolo (Henry Waddington), seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarti...

27Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Madama Butterfly – Royal Opera House

A staple of the operatic repertoire around the world, this was my third Madama Butterfly this year although in contrast to the first two live productions, this was a televised performance of ROH’s 2017 offering, directed by Moishe Leiser and Patrice Caurier. We open with marriage broker Goro (Carlo Bosi) showing US naval lieutenant Pinkerton (Marcelo Puente) round the home he will share with his Butterfly bride-to-be. Pinkerton is obsessed about possessing her even if he crushes her fragile wings, whilst American Consul Sharpless (Scott Hendricks) warns him of the tragic consequences his game could have. The Butterfly duly lands in the form of young Japanese girl Cio-Cio-San (Ermonela Jaho) supported by maid Suzuki (Elizabeth DeShong), and they are married by the Commissioner (Gyula Nag...

27Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Beethoven’s Fidelio – Royal Opera House

Recorded just prior to lockdown and largely unedited, conductor Antonio Pappano introduces a new production of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, from the Royal Opera House, a story of risk and triumph against a backdrop of revolution, with Tobias Kratzer’s new staging, including some dialogue changes, bringing together the dark reality of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution and the conflicts of the modern age to illuminate Fidelio’s inspiring message of a common humanity. This is very much an opera of two halves with Act One in period as Leonore (Lise Davidsen) attempts to locate her husband, Florestan (David Butt Philip) who is a political prisoner incarcerated in a secret dungeon and subject to torture from the governor of the prison, Don Pizarro (Simon Neal). To secure a ...

4Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

La Bohème – Royal Opera House

By the time it was retired in 2015, the Royal Opera’s previous production of La Bohème, directed by John Copley, had notched up 25 revivals in its 41-year history, so the pressure was on for its 2017 replacement, directed by Richard Jones and with sets and costumes by Stewart Laing, for what is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide. The play is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in about 1830 where on Christmas Eve we meet four struggling bohemians living in a garret: a poet, Rodolfo (Michael Fabiano); a painter, Marcello (Mariusz Kwiecień); a philosopher, Colline (Luca Trittoto); and a musician, Schaunard (Florian Sempes), who arrives having had some good fortune and they agree to celebrate by dining at Café Momus. They are interrupted by their landlord, Benoît (Jeremy W...