Billy Budd – Britten – Royal Opera House

Billy Budd – Britten – Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

It is incredible when in an all-male opera the keenest applause at curtain call is reserved for a lady – the female Director, Deborah Warner.  She directs a new production for the ROH, in conjunction with opera houses, both in Madrid and Rome, where this production has already premiered.   It is the ROH’s first new staging of this work since Zambello’s 1995 staging.  Warner is becoming a bit of a Britten specialist with her brilliant Death in Venice for ENO in memory, with others to follow suit.  Here she brings the 1797 timeframe up to the modern era, with costumes by Chloe Obolensky and sets by Michael Levine to match.  The abstract staging is based around moving platforms all surrounded by rigging, which at appropriate times move to produce varying levels on the stage, reflecting the different decks of the ship, HMS Indomitable. 

La forza del destino – Verdi – Royal Opera House

La forza del destino – Verdi – Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

The starry eyed opening of Christof Loy’s new production of Verdi’s La forza del destino was triumphant with the world’s greatest singers in the title roles - Anna Netrebko as Leonora, Jonas Kaufman as Don Alvaro and Ludovic Tezier as Don Carlo.  This was casting as good as it gets and a really exciting evening was enjoyed by all that were present. 

Mirga Leads Tchaikovsky – LA Philharmonic – Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall

Mirga Leads Tchaikovsky – LA Philharmonic – Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall

David Buchler
Los Angeles Philharmonic

It was an unexpected privilege to witness the performance of the outstanding Moldovan Violinist, now in her early forties, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto under the baton of the Lithuanian Conductor, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla.  They played together like a matching glove, always outstandingly in time and complete with their musical colour, but it was Kopatchinskaja’s night. 

Elisabetta I – Rossini – Hackney Empire

Elisabetta I – Rossini – Hackney Empire

David Buchler
Hackney Empire

It is outstanding that the English Touring Opera reaches more towns and cities in the UK than any other opera company.  There is nothing easy in the repertoire that ETO performs (this year Elisabetta 1, Mozart’s Idomeneo and Verdi’s Macbeth, next year Mozart’s Seraglio and Kurt Weill’s The Silver Lake, A Winter’s Tale), but with all its work it brings opera to the people outside the main cities, which is hugely important and beneficial for the country as a whole. 

Akhnaten - Philip Glass - English National Opera

Akhnaten - Philip Glass - English National Opera

David Buchler
English National Opera

Philip Glass’s Akhnaten, written in 1983, is an opera in three Acts based on the life and religious convictions of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhnaten.  The opera was commissioned and premiered in Stuttgart Germany and the American premiere was directed a year later in Houston by the Australian Opera Director, David Freeman.  The English premiere was staged in 1985 by ENO, who now stage its new 2016 production in partnership with the LA Opera.  The Egyptian and Hebrew texts are all taken from original sources, as indeed is the juggling whose source had been discovered as graffiti on the wall in an Egyptian tomb.

Cyprus High Commission – St Martin’s Embassy & Cultural Institute Series – St Martin-in-the-Fields

Cyprus High Commission – St Martin’s Embassy & Cultural Institute Series – St Martin-in-the-Fields

David Buchler

Cyprus is a small country with a long history and incredibly rich culture.  The majority of Cyprus is still under Greek Cypriot control, although there is a large part of the island’s cultural heritage currently under Turkish occupation since July 1974.  Civilisation in Cyprus goes back 10,000 years and there are indeed still signs of pre-historic permanent settlements.  Cyprus has had a close relationship for more than two centuries with Greece, particularly its influences.  During the Byzantine period there was also a strong Roman influence. The island was owned and controlled by the Latin state of Jerusalem, the Venetians, the Ottomans and the British and it wasn’t until 1959 that Archbishop Makarios was elected the first President of the Republic of Cyprus.  As a result of the Turkish invasion in 1974, Lefkosia (formerly Nicosia) is currently the only divided capital in the world.  

Un Ballo in Maschera – Verdi – Israeli Opera – Tel Aviv Israel

Un Ballo in Maschera – Verdi – Israeli Opera – Tel Aviv Israel

David Buchler
Israeli Opera

Most major and minor cities in Germany have an opera house that becomes the focal point of artistic development in the community.  Some cities in Germany are themselves bigger than the whole country of Israel, which has a population of 6.5m of which 2.5m are Arab and 4.5m Jewish.  Israel itself has its own Opera House, with the current Arts Centre being opened in 1994 after the new Israeli Opera was established in 1985.

Katya Kabanova – Janacek – Royal Opera House

Katya Kabanova – Janacek – Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

Born in 1854, Leos Janacek was a Czech Composer whose music was inspired by Slavic folk music and contemporaries such as Dvorak.  Although his first opera, Jenufa (dedicated to the memory of his young daughter) was first performed in 1904 in the city of Brno, it wasn’t until a revised version of Jenufa was performed in Prague in 1916 that Janacek first received great acclaim - at the age of 62.  A year later he met a young married woman (38 years his junior), who inspired him for the remaining years of his life, until his death in 1928. 

Manon Lescaut - Jules Massenet - Stavros Niarchos Foundation - Athens Greece

Manon Lescaut - Jules Massenet - Stavros Niarchos Foundation - Athens Greece

David Buchler

At a time of real austerity the Stavros Niarchos Foundation have contributed over €500m to a brand new cultural centre, which includes a 1,400 seater Greek National Opera auditorium, as well as 210,000 square metres of national park.  The cultural centre was completed and donated to the Greek state in 2017 and now stands as a beacon to the metropolitan cultural heritage of Greece and a global architectural landmark. 

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Carmen – Bizet – Royal Opera House

Carmen – Bizet – Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

Nine months ago I reported on the opening of Barry Kosky’s new take on Carmen.  It was unlike anything seen before at the ROH and at many times was visually stunning.  However, the problem is that despite some stunning scenes, including a 20 foot black dress train (both long and wide!) for Carmen in the final Act, the production overall lacks warmth in the heat of the Spanish sun and indeed it is cold in its interaction between principals.  The constant streaming across the stage steps by principals and chorus does not add to the village or factory atmosphere, as was required by Bizet.  However interesting the production appeared to be, it was in fact the collage of the scenes that provided the interest, rather than the visual impact throughout the evening.

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