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Music: Gaetano Donizetti Libretto: Salvadore Cammarano, after The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott English translation: Amanda Holden Director: David Alden Conductor: Antony Walker Reviewer: Lilla Grindlay The Public Reviews Rating: Lucia di Lammermoor is not for the faint-hearted. Set amongst feuding clans in 19th Century Scotland, it tells a powerful, tragic tale of passion, murder and [...]

Composer: Giacomo Puccini Original Libretto: Luigi Illica & Guiseppi Giacosta Translator: Robin Norton-Hale Director: Robin Norton-Hale Conductor: Andrew Charity Reviewer: Deborah Klayman Nestled in the intimate space that is the Cock Tavern Theatre, a gem is waiting to be discovered. Adapted from Puccini’s world famous Opera and updated from 1830s Paris to modern-day Kilburn, this [...]

Composer: Leoš Janáček Conductor: Martin André Director: John Fulljames Reviewer: Ian Cain If your taste in entertainment veers toward the zany, bizarre, surreal or downright nutty, then this is probably the opera for you. Be prepared to suspend your disbelief as you are introduced to Mr Matěj Brouček, a boring and opinionated property landlord and [...]

Writer: Jules Massenet Conductor: Richard Farnes Director: Tom Cairns Reviewer: Ian Cain For an opera novice, such as myself, Jules Massenet’s ‘Werther’ is the perfect introductory piece. The plot is remarkably uncomplicated, there are no complex sub-plots to try to keep track of and, although it is performed in French, there are English titles provided [...]

Composer: Leoš Janáček Conductor: Martin Andre Director: John Fulljames Reviewer: Lorna Andrewes Brouček , on first sight, seems to be a very weird opera. It is based on the novels of czech writer Svatopluk Cech, the main protagonist being a most unappealing character : an inebriated small-time property owner with lecherous tendencies, cowardly and without [...]

Writer: Jules Massenet Conductor: Richard Farnes, Director: Tom Cairns Reviewer: Ruth Lovett Premiering in 1892 and not performed by Opera North since 1982, the Lowry welcomes back this classic production in eager anticipation. This delightful French opera with English subtitles is a key piece in the Opera North’s current program visiting the Lowry this week. [...]

Writer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Conductor: Justin Doyle Director: Tim Albery Reviewer: Lorna Andrewes Cosi fan Tutte is the presentation of a complex and compelling moral tale. Don Alfonso, sung by Geoffrey Dolton,wagers with two young friends, Ferrando – Alan Clayton, and Gugliemo – Quirjin de Lang, that even their devoted lovers can be easily persuaded [...]

L’Amour de loin (Love From Afar) by Kaija SaariahoLibretto by Amin MaaloufDirector: Daniele Finzi Pasca Conductor: Edward GardnerReviewer: Mark ValenciaENO is ending its strongest season in years with the UK première of this Finnish oddity from 2000. Music Director Edward Gardner is behind the project to bring it to London, and with his outstanding track [...]