Clik here to view.
Dance Theatre Essentials: Chéri
Herman Cornejo and Alessandra Ferri in Martha Clarke’s Chéri © Signature Theatre. Photograph by Joan Marcus, 2015 The Story Begins… The retired courtesan Léa has raised her friend’s son Chéri – but as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: The Last Hotel
Mikel Murfi in Enda Walsh’s The Last Hotel © Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera 2015. Photo by Patrick Redmond, 2015 The Story Begins… A man silently mops the floor, the water bloody. The hotel...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Carmen Musical Highlight: Don José’s Flower Song
Christine Rice as Carmen and Bryan Hymel as Don José in Carmen, The Royal Opera © ROH/Mike Hoban, 2010 Carmen is an opera of action. Even Escamillo’s Toreador Song and Carmen’s Habanera are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Viscera Dance Highlight: The final movement
Laura Morera, Alexander Campbell and Tristan Dyer in Viscera, The Royal Ballet © ROH/Andrej Uspenski, 2012 Liam Scarlett made his American choreographic debut in 2012 with Viscera – an abstract,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Orpheus Musical Highlight: ‘Mio ben teco’
Orpheus and Eurydice (1862) by Edward Poynter. Image: Wikicommons Luigi Rossi’s Orpheus was written in Paris in 1647, at a time when the French capital was in the grip of a craze for all things...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ballet Essentials: Viscera / Afternoon of a Faun / Tchaikovsky Pas de deux /...
Carlos Acosta and dancers of The Royal Balletin rehearsal for Carmen, The Royal Ballet © 2015 ROH. Photograph by Tristram Kenton A Collection of Contrasts The Royal Ballet’s first mixed programme of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: Luigi Rossi’s Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Mary Bevan and Louise Alder in rehearsal for Orpheus, The Royal Opera and Shakespeare's Globe © 2015 ROH/Shakespeare's Globe. Photograph by Stephen Cummiskey The Story Begins… Orpheus loves Eurydice –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: Morgen und Abend
Sarah Wegener as Signe/Midwife in rehearsal for Morgen und Abend, The Royal Opera © 2015 ROH. Photograph by Andrej Uspenski The Story Begins… A man waits for the birth of a child. Many years later that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dance Essentials: Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Until.With/Out.Enough / TearFall /...
Bloom, Phoenix Dance Theatre, 2015. Photo by Brian Slater Leading Contemporary Dance in the UK Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre was founded in 1981 by dancers David Hamilton, Donald Edwards and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Much-Loved Classic: Why Ashton’s The Two Pigeons is making a long-awaited...
Vadim Muntagirov as the Young Man and Lauren Cuthbertson as the Young Girl in rehearsal for The Two Pigeons, The Royal Ballet © 2015 ROH. Photograph by Bill Cooper Royal Ballet Director Kevin O’Hare...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: The Firework-Maker’s Daughter
Mary Bevan as Lila in The Firework-Maker's Daughter © Robert Workman The Story Begins… Lila wants to be a firework-maker like her father Lalchand – but he refuses to teach her the secrets of his trade....
View ArticleClik here to view.
What is it about fairytales that continues to fascinate composers and audiences?
Cinderella, from a book of Germany fairytales c. 1919. Courtesy Wikimedia/Creative Commons As well as history and mythology, opera composers throughout the art form's history have turned to fairytales...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Emmanuel Chabrier: An unsung hero of 19th-century French music
Emmanuel Chabrier from Die berühmten Musiker, 1946 Everyone loved him: composer Emmanuel Chabrier, the jovial fellow from the Auvergne who entertained poets and artists and whose wit and charm were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lights! Coloratura! Action!: The giddy world of opera’s ‘action’ songs
Diana Damrau as Violetta Valery in La traviata, The Royal Opera © ROH / Catherine Ashmore 2014 Most numbers in opera that talk about action describe something that has already been done, or that is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: George Enescu's Oedipe
Oedipe, La Monnaie, Brussels, 2011 © Bernd Uhlig The story begins… Oedipe’s parents’ happiness at his birth is destroyed when the prophet Tirésias announces that the child will kill his father Laïos...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: Philip Venables’s 4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis. The Royal Opera. By Philip Venables, based on the play by Sarah Kane A linchpin of British theatre Playwright Sarah Kane was one of the most important artists of her generation. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore
Giuseppe Verdi The story begins… Before the opera starts, the tragedy has already been set in motion. The gypsy Azucena has vowed to avenge the murder of her mother at the hands of the aristocratic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MacMillan's The Invitation: How dancers revive a challenging historic ballet
Francesca Hayward and Gary Avis in The Invitation © ROH 2016. Photograph by Andrej Uspenski Kenneth MacMillan’s intention in creating The Invitation in 1960, with its depiction of the rape of an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: Massenet's Werther
Wether. The Royal Opera 2015/16 Season The story begins… Werther, an intense young man, falls madly in love with Charlotte – only to learn that she is engaged to her childhood friend Albert. Following...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera Essentials: Bellini’s Norma
Sonya Yoncheva as Norma in Norma, The Royal Opera © 2016 ROH. Photograph by Bill Cooper The story begins… The priestess Norma has had an illicit affair with Pollione, an officer in the forces occupying...
View Article
