A Midsummer Night's Dream

by Benjamin Britten

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

seen at the Silk Street Theatre on 27 February 2019

Dominic Wheeler conducts Martin Lloyd-Evans's production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as a showcase for their Opera Course. Oberon was sung by Collin Shay, Tytania by Zoe Drummond, Helena by Alexandra Lowe, Hermia by Carmen Artaza, Lysander by Felipe Manu, Demetrius by Benson Wilson and Bottom by Christian Valle; Puck (a non-singing part) was taken by Matthew Dixon. Apart from Oberon, the roles were taken by other singers for two of the four performances. The production was designed by Ruari Murchson and lit by Mark Jonathan.

Akhnaten

by Philip Glass

seen at the Coliseum on 21 February 2019

This is a revival of ENO's 2016 production directed by Phelim McDermott, again conducted by Karen Kamensek, and with five of the original principals reprising their roles - Anthony Roth Costanzo as Akhnaten, Rebecca Bottone as Queen Tye (his mother), Zachary James as the Scribe, James Cleverton as the courtier Horemheb and Colin Judson as the High Priest of Amun. The newcomers are Katie Stevenson as Queen Nefertiti and Keel Watson as her father Aye.

In 2016 I saw the production twice, firstly from a side seat in the dress circle, and secondly more centrally in order to appreciate the stage design and choreography from a more satisfactory viewpoint; see my review from March 2016 for more details. 

Kát'a Kabanová

by Leoš Janáček

seen at Covent Garden on 9 February 2019

Edward Gardner conducts Amanda Majski as Kát'a, Susan Bickley as her mother-in-law Kabanicha, Andrew Staples as her husband Tichon and Pavel Černoch as her lover Boris in a new production (only the second at Covent Garden) directed by Richard Jones and designed by Anthony McDonald.

Leoš Janáček based his 1922 opera on a play called The Thunderstorm by the 19th-century Russian dramatist Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky. It concerns the idealistic and unhappy Kát'a, trapped in an unsatisfactory marriage with Tichon Kabanov (though each claims to love the other), and living in the Kabanov household with Tichon's incredibly vicious and domineering mother known as Kabanicha (a diminutive of the family name).