Friday 31 December 2021

2021 in opera and music theatre

Beethoven: Fidelio - Adam Smith - Glyndebourne on Tour (© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith
Beethoven: Fidelio - Adam Smith - Glyndebourne on Tour (© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

First prizes for imagination and daring must go to Opera Holland Park for their remarkable reinvention, and Nevill Holt Opera for their imaginative outdoor performances. It was, surprisingly, a good year for Wagner with Tony seeing the complete Ring Cycle in Stephan Herheim's new production in Berlin, whilst I caught The Valkyrie both launching English National Opera's new Ring Cycle, and as the continuation of the Grimeborn Festival's cycle.

Rarities including Offenbach's La Princesse de Trebizonde from New Sussex Opera, Donizetti's Roberto Devereux from Chelsea Opera Group, Rimsky Korskov's Ivan the Terrible at Grange Park Opera, Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz at Opera Holland Park, Gluck's Paride ed Elena from Bampton Classical Opera and Richard Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena at Fulham Opera, these latter two amazingly being first London performances.

Opera continued the theme of strong Handel performances this year with a fine Amadigi di Gaula from English Touring Opera. And a shout out for Blackheath Opera's amazing achievement of bringing off a staging of Blow's Venus and Adonis with a largely non-professional company in a pandemic, in a highly ingenious staging. And there were two strong musical theatre evening, Sondheim's A Little Night Music with a strong cast from Opera North at Leeds Playhouse, and the Grange Festival's engagingly imaginative concert staging of My Fair Lady.


Tony Cooper

  • Stephan Herheim's new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen; conductor Donald Runnicles at the Deutsche Oper Berlin
  • Beethoven’s Fidelio at Glyndebourne with Dorothea Herbert and Adam Smith


Gluck: Paris and Helen - Oliver Adam-Reynolds, Oscar Fonseca - Bampton Classical Opera (Photo Jeremy Gray)
Gluck: Paris and Helen - Oliver Adam-Reynolds, Oscar Fonseca - Bampton Classical Opera (Photo Jeremy Gray)

Robert

  • Zest and energy: New Sussex Opera revives Offenbach's La princesse de Trébizonde
  • The journey begins: Richard Jones and Martyn Brabbins launch a new Ring Cycle at ENO, dramatically anti-heroic yet with strong musical values and some intriguing ideas
  • Back with a bang: Donizetti's Roberto Devereux from Chelsea Opera Group with Helena Dix and Eleazar Rodrigues
  • Mad, messy and marvellous: Richard Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena at Fulham Opera
  • Magic & emotional turmoil: English Touring Opera in Handel's Amadigi di Gaula
  • From 17th century masque to TV reality show: Blackheath Halls Opera's imaginative take on John Blow's Venus and Adonis
  • Lyric intensity: Gluck's Paride ed Elena (Paris and Helen) receives its first London staging from Bampton Classical Opera 
  • Folk ritual and drama: Mozart's Don Giovanni at Nevill Holt Opera rises to the challenge
  • A little miracle: Grimeborn Festival opens with Wagner's Die Walküre at Hackney Empire
  • Real intimacy: Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady in a concert staging at The Grange Festival
  • A light touch, yet full of character: Mascagni's L'amico Fritz proves an engaging discovery at Opera Holland Park
  • Wonderfully satisfying: a very stylish production of Rossini's La Cenerentola at The Grange Festival
  • Ensemble collaboration: Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music from Opera North and the Leeds Playhouse
  • Grange Park Opera gives us a rare chance to see Rimsky Korskov's first opera, Ivan the Terrible in a striking production by David Pountney
  • Remarkable revival: Rodula Gaitanou's production of Verdi's La Traviata is back at Opera Holland Park with the original cast on terrific form

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