Simon Boccanegra

by Giuseppe Verdi (libretto by Piave revised by Boito)

seen at Covent Garden on 10 December 2018

Henrik Nánási conducts Carlos Álvarez as Simon Boccanegra, Hrachuhi Bassenz as Amelia, Francesco Meli as Gabriele and Ferrucio Furlanetto as Fiesco in a revival of Elijah Moshinsky's 1991 production (sets by Michael Yeargan) of Simon Boccanegra, an opera loosely based on political machinations in 14th century Genoa.

The opera is full of intrigue and confusion, with a missing illegitimate daughter who turns out to have been adopted by a patrician family to keep their patrimony from being sequestered - a family to which another disgraced patrician has attached himself in disguise, unaware that the girl he dotes on as a father is actually his grand-daughter. Simon, propelled from the ranks to be the Doge of Vienna, only discovers that Amelia is his long-lot daughter at the pint when he is about to marry her off to an unscrupulous underling; naturally he stays his hand, but has doubts about whether he can countenance her true love Gabriele, who has been plotting against him.

War Requiem

by Benjamin Britten; poems by Wilfred Owen

seen at the Coliseum on 22 November 2018

Martyn Brabbins conducts Emma Bell (soprano), David Butt Philip (tenor) and Roderick Williams (bass) with the ENO chorus (supplemented by the Finchley Children's Music Group and the international ensemble featuring in ENO's concurrent production of Porgy and Bess) and the ENO orchestra in a staged performance of Britten's War Requiem directed by Daniel Kramer and designed by Wolfgang Tillmans, as a contribution to the centenary commemoration of the Armistice which concluded the First World War.

Musically this was a fine performance, with clear singing from soloists and choruses, and strong orchestral playing. However, it rode roughshod over Britten's careful deployment of the vocal forces, since the children's chorus was not always separated from the rest, and the soloists were often moving around. Of course the physical space - an opera stage and orchestra pit - was entirely different from the cathedral setting for which the piece was commissioned (the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962), so it is hardly surprising that the aural dynamics had to be adjusted.

Lucia di Lammermore

by Gaetano Donizetti

seen at the Coliseum on 30 October 2018

Stuart Stratford conducts Sarah Tynan as Lucia, Lester Lynch as Enrico Ashton , Eleazer Rodriguez as Edgardo, Michael Colvin as Lord Arturo Bucklow, Clive Bayley as Raimondo Bidebent, Sarah Pring as Alisa and Elgan Llŷr Thomas as Normanno in Donizetti's adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermore, directed by David Alden and designed by Charles Edwards. It was first seen at ENO in 2008; this is therefore a revival.

The novel is set in the 17th or the 18th century (depending on the edition consulted) but this production has opted for 19th century dress (frock suits and wide crinolines) more suggestive of the composition date of the opera (1835). It's an effective move, as the costumes are almost entirely in black, white or shades of grey, while the set is likewise monotone, depicting a grandiose but dilapidated country house, with horrifying patches of black damp on the plaster. The only signs of colour are a couple of children's toys, and the lurid bloodstains on Lucia's dress after she has murdered her husband Lord Arturo (himself dressed in brilliant and foppish white for the marriage ceremony). Only Edgardo's muted green and blue tartan kilt and brown leather jacket distinguishes him from all the other soberly dressed males. Lucia herself is at first in grey, but wears a white wedding dress and then a bloodstained white nightdress.

Die Walküre

by Richard Wagner

seen by live streaming from Covent Garden n 28 October 2018

Keith Warner's 2005 Ring cycle, designed by Stefanos Lazaridis, is completing its second and reputedly last revival this year, with Die Walküre the only opera of the four to receive a live streaming (apparently to over 800 cinemas - ours had only about 20 in the audience, compared with many more for the Met's Puccini the night before). Antonio Pappano conducted Stuart Skelton as Siegmund, Emily Magee as Sieglinde, Ain Anger as Hunding, John Lundgren as Wotan, Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde and Sarah Connolly as Fricka.

Genetics (family) and Fate are symbolically present in this cycle, manifested respectively by metal helices circling from the height of the stage down into the floor, and by a thick red rope. Here, in the first two acts, one of the helices is transformed from shiny metal into the twisted roots of a tree as it reaches the ground, to represent firstly the ash tree in Hunding's house, and secondly a generic 'outside' for the battle. It is not quite so clear why it should be present in the first scene of the second act which is more usually considered to be in the realm of the gods; also, on a more practical level, it proves an clumsy obstruction to the singers who have to clamber over it, especially awkwardly in the first act where an upper room of the house already restricts the acting area. The rope, seen only in the second act, is particularly useful in marking the twists of Fate, as Fricka pulls it down when she wins her point in her argument with Wotan, then later Siegmund uses it to guide Sieglinde to a sheltered spot (only an upturned sofa; but we are beyond realism here), and finally Brünnhilde treads beside it unwillingly to confront Siegmund and declare his doom. It has to be conceded, though, that this last detail may have escaped many in the audience, as the rope was by then lying on the floor; it was however obvious to the camera.

La fanciulla del West

by Giacomo Puccini

seen by live streaming from The Metropolitan Opera New York on 27 October 2018

Marco Armiliato conducts Giancarlo del Monaco's production of this opera, adapted from a play by David Belasco, with Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie (the eponymous heroine), Jonas Kaufmann as Dick Johnson (the bandit impelled to turn good) and Željko Lučić as Sheriff Jack Rance (a strong man thwarted in both love and what he sees as justice).

Puccini wrote the opera as a commission for the Met, where it was first performed in 1910 with Caruso in the tenor role. No pressure, then. for the Met to deliver the goods now, and one sensed a certain self-satisfaction in the detailed realism of the setting, complete with characters turning up on horseback whenever possible - some to the Polka Saloon in the first act, and both Minnie and Dick Johnson to Minnie's cabin in the second (sets and costumes by Michael Scott). It all helped to emphasise the Wild West (or Californian gold-rush) setting; though the saloon was doubtless improbably large in order to fill the stage.

Samson et Dalila

by Camille Saint-Saëns (libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire)

seen by live streaming from The Metropolitan Opera New York on 20 October 2018

Mark Elder conducts Darko Tresnjak's new production of Samson et Dalila with Roberto Alagna as Samson, Elīna Garanča as Dalila, and Laurent Naouri as the High Priest of Dagon.

The climax of Samson's story, from the book of Judges in the Old Testament, is his seduction by Dalila, who extracts from him the secret of his physical strength (his uncut hair), thus enabling the Philistines to overpower him. Then, blinded and in chains, he is nonetheless able to recover his strength through praying to God (and through the Philitines having neglected to keep his head shaved), and he destroys the temple of Dagon when the Philistines taunt him there.

The three acts of the opera show Samson's initial success against the Philistines, then Dalila's seduction, then Samson's final triumph. Most of the circumstantial details of the Biblical story are omitted in favour of a scene in which the oppressed Hebrews lament their subjugation and are then taunted by a Philistine leader who eventuallyattacks Samson and is killed by him. The High Priest of Dagon then curses the Hebrews, and Dalila and her attendant priestesses emerge from the temple. Samson is transfixed by Dalila, who suggests that they meet in private.

Aida

by Giuseppe Verdi (libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni)

seen by live streaming from The Metropolitan Opera New York on 6 October 2018

Nicola Luisotti conducts Sonja Frisell's production of Aida with Anna Netrebko as Aida, Anit Rachvelishvili as Amneris and Aleksandrs Antonenko as Radamès. The spectacular sets are designed by Gianni Quaranta.

The vast Met stage is ideal for the grander aspects of this, one of the grandest of 'grand operas'. The dedication of the new war leader is wonderfully staged in hieratic symmetry, while the triumphant return of the victorious army is even more splendid, with plenty of supernumerary troops and several horses, to say nothing of welcoming crowds and courtiers. But this monumentality can prove a bit problematic for the more intimate scenes. This is largely overcome by night-time settings, and by occasional restrictions of space by the use of extra statues, pillars and walls which appear during scene breaks, while the final entombment is concentrated on a small acting space which chillingly disappears downwards from view as the rejected princess Amneris prays for peace above the condemned lovers. When one sees the stage hands hard at work during the intervals putting these massive sets into place one can only marvel at the technical ingenuity and precision of the whole enterprise, even though these behind-the-scenes glimpses tend to distract from the stage illusion of the actual production.

Salome

by Richard Strauss (libretto based on Oscar Wilde's play)

seen at the Coliseum on 3rd October 2018

Adena Jacobs directs ENO's new production of Salome, designed by Marg Horwell and conducted by Martyn Brabbins, with Allison Cook as Salome, David Soar as Jokanaan, Michael Colvin as Herod and Susan Bickley as Herodias.

ENO's 2018/19 season proposes to 'explore and examine some of the patriarchal structures, relationships, and roles of masculinity within our society'. Adena Jacobs' theatre work 'is celebrated for its questioning of conventional patriarchal attitudes as she reframes mythic stories through a lens that is radical, contemporary and feminine'. (Both quotations are from Artistic Director Daniel Kramer's welcome note in the programme.)

Whether Strauss's opera can be so 'reframed' is perhaps open to question. The clash between Salome and Jokanaan is stark and unrelenting; she is intoxicated by his charisma while he is utterly impervious to hers. The clash between Salome and Herod is powerful in a different way: he is besotted with her and she is scornful of him, but well able to use the power his lechery gives her to gain what she desires. While it may be easy to regard Salome as merely a female temptress, it's fairly clear that her obsessions and recklessness drive the opera, and while her final soliloquy may be grotesque and distasteful, it is nonetheless extremely powerful.

Lohengrin

by Richard Wagner

seen at Covent Garden on 1 July 2018

Andris Nelsons conducted and David Alden directed this new Royal Opera production of Wagner's 1840s opera about the Swan Knight who comes to the rescue of a wrongly accused young woman, but then places an impossible burden on her by demanding that he remain anonymous if he is to stay and marry her. Lohengrin was sung by Klaus Florian Vogt, Elsa von Brabant by Jennifer Davis, Ortrud by Christine Goerke, Telramund by Thomas J. Mayer, King Heinrich by Geog Zeppenfeld and the Herald by Kostas Smoriginas.

The big draw card for this production is the chance to hear Klaus Florian Vogt sing the title role, one to which his pure lyric tenor voice is ideally suited. He certainly did not disappoint, bringing a radiant clarity throughout, from the Swan Knight's public pronouncements to the most intimate tenderness with Elsa, before his impassioned disappointment at her failure of nerve. Surrounding him was an excellent cast - a pure Elsa, a vituperative Ortrud, a desperate Telramund and an ailing king (supported by a wounded but still valiant herald). The chorus was in fine form, and the orchestra under Andris Nelsons excelled at the shimmering strangeness of the Grail music as much as in the blazing brass music of the more earthly armies.

Lessons in Love and Violence

by George Benjamin, libretto by Martin Crimp

seen at Covent Garden on 18 May 2018

This newly commissioned opera is conducted by the composer and features Stéphane Degout as the King, Gyula Orendt as Gaveston nd the Stranger, Barbara Hannigan as Isabel, Peter Hoare as Mortimer, Samuel Boden as the Boy and Ocean Barrington-Cook as the Girl. It is directed by Katie Mitchell and designed by Vicki Mortimer. It is a meditation on the hapless reign of King Edward II (1307 to 1327) though it is played in modern dress.

The opera comprises seven scenes. In the first part (four scenes), the King banishes his military adviser Mortimer after the latter criticises the King's improvident relations with Gaveston. Though historically the scandal was that the two men might have been lovers, here Mortimer disparages all manifestations of love as being too threatening to the stability of political life. Next, Mortimer forces the Queen to be confronted with the misery of the kingdom, after which she agrees to his plan to murder Gaveston. Gaveston is seized at a private entertainment during which the King has asked him to foretell his future by reading his palm. Once he has learned of Gaveston's death, the King repudiates his Queen.

La Traviata

by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Piave after Dumas fils

seen at the Coliseum on 5 April 2018

Daniel Kramer's new production for ENO (his first as their new artistic director, though not his first for the company), is conducted byLeo McFall and features Claudia Boyle as Violetta, Lukhanyo Moyake as Alfredo Germont and Alan Opie as Alfredo's father Giorgio Germont, with sets designed by Lizzie Clachan.

The opera is redolent of a society and a view of relationships which are increasingly out of step with modern sensibilities (at least as they are fashionably proclaimed). Violetta is a courtesan supported by a rich nobleman. The idealistic Alfredo declares his love for her, and she agrees to set up house with him, though she has some reservations about her worthiness. But the opportunity to exchange mere hedonism for something more stable is extremely tempting, especially as she is unwell.

Macbeth

by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Piave after Shakespeare

seen by live streaming from Covent Garden on 4 April 2018

Phyllida Lloyd's original production is revived this year by Daniel Dooner, featuring Željko Lučić as Macbeth and Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth, with Antonio Pappano conducting.

In contrast to so many operas, there are virtually no narrative complications, and precious little human warmth. The principal focus is on the two main characters, and the corruption of their humanity by their driving ambition. Duncan and Banquo are virtuous victims, but in this version Duncan is a minor character, completely silent. Macduff (Yusif Eyvazov) effectively leads the final opposition, but the murder of his family is not presented on stage; this renders Malcolm, the son of Duncan and the rightful king, an even more shadowy presence, in the interests of dramatic and operatic economy.

Musically and visually, then, all depends on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, while the sense of society in turmoil is explored by the chorus who act as courtiers, soldiers, and, in a notable divergence from the play, as witches. Instead of three witches, there are dozens.

Rinaldo

by George Frideric Handel

libretto by Giacomo Rossi from Aaron Hill after Tasso

seen semi-staged at the Barbican Centre Hall on 13 March 2018

Harry Bicket conducted the English Consort from the harpsichord with Iestyn Davies as Rinaldo, Jane Archibald as Armina, Sasha Cooke as Goffredo, Joélle Harvey as Almirena nd the Siren, Luca Pisaroni as Argante, Jakub Józef Orliński as Eustazio and Owen Willetts singing three minor parts.

Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata is a fanciful account of the final campaign of the First Crusade. Aaron Hill, managing the theatre at which the opera was first performed, prepared a synopsis and Giacomo Rossi rendered it in Italian. Handel, having arrived in London in 1710, wored quickly to compose this first sung-through Italian opera specifically for the London stage, and it was first performed in February 1711 to great acclaim.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by Benjamin Britten 

(libretto by the composer and Peter Pears from Shakespeare's play)

seen at the Coliseum on 8 March 2018

Alexander Soddy conducts Christopher Ainslie as Oberon, Soraya Mafi as Tytania, Miltos Yerolemou as Puck and Joshua Bloom as Bottom in this second revival of Robert Carsen's production first seen at the Coliseum in 1995 and again in 2004.

In 2011 ENO performed a very different production of this opera, directed by Christopher Alden. Working against the usual cheerful mayhem of the libretto, but strangely still in keeping with the often eerie music (heavily influenced by Balinese gamelan, but by no means a pastiche of that style), Alden set the piece in a boys' boarding school where the squabble between Oberon and Tytania over the 'changeling boy' became a tussle between two teachers over a new favoured boy; the Athenian lovers were older boys attempting to encounter girls from a neighbouring school; the rude mechanicals were the crass ground staff and Puck was Oberon's current favourite about to be superseded by the newcomer. Theseus was an old boy of the school, evidently a previous favourite, watching in mute distress as the pattern of his own grooming by Oberon and subsequent displacement by the new boy was being repeated in the case of Puck. This all made for a troubling picture of endemic and cyclical abuse, which was extremely powerful even as it subverted one's expectations.

Iolanthe

by W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan

seen at the Coliseum on 24 February 2018

Somehow, in contrast to most attributions in which the composer is listed first and the librettist afterwards (if at all), it is hard to break the conventional reference to 'Gilbert & Sullivan'. In their collaboration, the words (at least to an anglophone audience - and perhaps there are few others) are as important as the music, and the phrase and its initials 'G&S' simply too entrenched. I did it for Pirates but have reverted to type here.

This production, ENO's first in forty years, is directed by Cal McCrystal and conducted (at this performance) by Chris Hopkins from an edition prepared from the original manuscript by Timothy Henty (who conducts most performances in this season). It features Samantha Price as Iolanthe, Yvonne Howard as the Queen f the Fairies, Andrew Shore as the Lord Chancellor, Ellie Laugharne as Phyllis and Marcus Farnsworth as Strephon. The designer was Paul Brown, his last work in a distinguished career, as unfortunately he died late last year.

Satyagraha

by Philip Glass (libretto from the Bhagavada Gita)

seen at the Coliseum on 14 February 2018

This is the second revival of Phelim McDermott's 2007 production, this time conducted by Karen Kamensek and featuring Toby Spence as Gandhi.

The opera has three acts, named Tolstoy, Tagore and King, representing past, present and future in Gandhi's life. It is meditative rather than narrative, and the text is sung entirely in Sanskrit, taken from an ancient poem - thus it could hardly refer directly to any events being depicted visually. (It is interesting, by the way, to note that ENO's policy of singing opera in English has been waived for two Philip Glass operas, this and Akhnaten. The only other exception that I am aware of is John Buller's Bakxai from 1992, which used the ancient Greek of Euripides as its libretto.)

Salome

by Richard Strauss (libretto based on Oscar Wilde's play)

seen at Covent Garden on 17 January 2018

David McVicar's 2008 production is here revived directed by Bárbara Lluch with Henrik Nánási conducting Malin Byström as Salome, Michael Volle as Jokanaan, John Daszak as Herod and Michaela Schuster as Herodias.

Rigoletto

by Giuseppe Verdi (libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Hugo)

seen by live streaming from Covent Garden on 16 January 2017

David McVicar's 2001 production is here revived by Justin Way with Alexander Joel conducting Dimitri Platanias as Rigoletto, Lucy Crowe as his daughter Gilda, and Michale Fabiano as the Duke of Mantua.

The setting of the story reeks of privileged corruption, the Duke setting the tone for his whole court with his droit de seigneur attitude towards any woman who takes his fancy. Rigoletto, the hunchbacked court jester, colludes in this to the extent that he mocks anyone who complains of the general debauchery; consequently he is not much liked by anyone else. Fatefully he imagines - as so many do - that he can control a barrier between his public behaviour and his private life, in which he expects he can protect his innocent daughter Gilda from any danger. He reckons without the strength of his enemies and the power of Gilda's naive love to lead to reckless self-sacrifice. The result is personal disaster, perhaps made worse by the realisation that there are apparently no adverse consequences for the Duke who just hums his way on towards the next seduction.