Rupert Christiansen has an interesting piece over at the Telegraph. He comments on the fact that there is little that is English or National about ENO, neither their repertoire nor their performers.
His list of major English operas which they have not staged makes interesting reading, 'King Arthur, The Yeomen of the Guard, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Troilus and Cressida, Albert Herring or A Night at the Chinese Opera'. To this I would add the operas which were once popular and which deserve some sort of investigation, both Ivanhoe and The Immortal Hour had significantly long runs when first produced, and surely The Wreckers deserves another go, particularly as there is now a new translation (the libretto was written in French) which removes some of the major infelicities. Also to this list we ought to add Goldschmidt's Beatrice Cenci.
Many years ago, ENO had a programme of doing quick and dirty revivals of operas which would not otherwise be done, Rienzi was done in this way. Could we not surely have a similar scheme to put some of our English operas before the public.
His other complaint is that the company does not nurture native talent. Their young artists programme ought surely to be more firmly slanted towards UK singers rather than being indifferent to their origins - a laudable intention, but one which I think is a rather doubtful one when you are talking about the training programme of our National opera.
One of the regrets of recent years is the the short lived previous regime, for all its faults (both actual and perceived) seemed to be taking the English National role a little more seriously. But the current management seem to have dropped all of Sean Doran's ideas, whether good or bad.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Handel: Semele - Pretty Yende, Niamh O'Sullivan (Photo: Vincent Pontet) Handel: Semele ; Pretty Yende, Ben Bliss, Alice Coote, Brindley ...
-
Britten: Peter Grimes ; Mark Le Brocq, Emma Bell, Mark Stone, Eugene Dillon-Hooper, Matthew Bawden, Rhian Davies, Oliver Heuzenroeder, Justi...
-
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor - Tabitha Reynolds (ghost), Jennifer France - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright) Donizetti: Lucia di La...
-
Rameau: Les Indes Galantes - Andreas Wolf, Cappella Mediterranea, Chœur de chambre de Namur, Structure Rualité, Leonardo García-Alarcón - T...
-
What about blowing the box to pieces: composer Eímear Noone on writing for video games, films and TVEímear Noone (Photo: Andy Paradise) Dublin and LA-based composer Eímear Noone is known for her scores for video games, films and TV. She re...
-
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore - Martins Smaukstelis & chorus - St Paul's Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera) Donizetti: L'Elis...
-
Verdi: La Traviata - Alison Langer, Ellie Edmonds - Opera Holland Park 2025 (Photo: Ali Wright) Verdi: La Traviata ; Alison Langer, Matteo...
-
The Murdock-Whitney House, Winchendon History & Cultural Centre Andrew Arceci is an American viola da gamba, violone, and bass player w...
-
Bernstein: Trouble in Tahiti - Charles Rice, Allison Cooke - Buxton International Festival (Photo: Genevieve Girling) Leonard Bernstein: Tr...
-
Rehearsal for Uprooted - Garsington Opera Youth Company On 29 July 2025, Garsington Opera Youth Company joins forces with Sinfonia Smith Squ...
Hey, a fellow composer on blogspot! I really found your blog interesting. It complements my blog well, so why don't we follow each other? It would help both of our sites. Happy blogging!
ReplyDelete