Exit from the Labyrinth

The Royal Opera House has announced that Antonio Pappano has withdrawn from the forthcoming revival of Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Minotaur which Covent Garden is reviving next year with John Tomlinson and Christine Rice returning to their roles. appano developed acute tendonitis during the recenPt Ring cycles and has been advised to withdraw on the advice of his doctors. Let us hope that the perils of conducting four Ring cycles on the trot do not linger too long.

The good news is that Covent Garden has managed to engage the services of young composer/conductor Ryan Wigglesworth to replace Pappano. Wigglesworth conducted the UK premiere of Detlev Glanert's Caligula with English National Opera (and will be returning to the Coliseum for Carmen.) He opened this year's Aldeburgh Festival conducting a double bill of Oliver Knussen's two operas Higgledy Piggledy Pop and Where the Wild Things Are.