Anna Bolena in Hackney

Tonight we are off to Hackney to see Donizetti's Anna Bolena, the start of the spring tour by English Touring Opera. In a highly enterprising programme they are also doing Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and Don Giovanni.

Anna Bolena was Donizetti's first major hit and his earliest opera to keep a hold in the repertoire. Mind you, in the UK if opera companies want a change from Lucia di Lammermoor, they always seem to choose Maria Stuarda. The Royal Opera produced Anna Bolena for Joan Sutherland in the late 1980's, but I don't think it has been seen in the UK since.