All in English National Opera
Aida was premiered in Cairo’s Opera House at the end of 1871, having been commissioned by the Isma’il Pasha. Its premier was meant to coincide with the opening of the opera house, but as a result of the Franco-Prussian war the scenery and costumes were stuck in Paris and Verdi’s Rigoletto was performed instead, with Aida premiering later in the year. The premiere was met with great critical acclaim and the European premiere was held in February 1872 at La Scala Milan. Over the next 20 years the opera became part of the staple repertoire of opera houses all over Europe and America, where different productions tried to deal with the passionate nature of relationships between three high born individuals, ultimately ending in inevitable betrayal.
This wonderful opera/oratorio by Sir Edward Elgar is a work in two parts for orchestra and voice and relates to the journey of a pious man’s soul from his death bed to his judgement before God. It was disastrously premiered in 1900 with the conductor, Dr Hans Richter, receiving his score in the very last minute before rehearsal.
This joint production between Hackney Empire and the English National Opera, presents the European premiere of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird composed by the saxophonist, Daniel Schnyder. It was an extraordinary evening of jazz infused Bebopera, moving at a pulsating pace.
Carousel, the second musical by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein, opened on Broadway in the Spring of 1945 to critical acclaim from both critics and audiences. It was a work adapted from Ferenc Molnar’s 1909 play Liliom, but instead of a Budapest setting it was transplanted to a setting in New England USA.
I was lucky enough to attend 2 gala concert/recital events this week - one at the ENO Gala Concert, Rosewood Hotel and the other at Kings Place, Kings Cross, London N1 - meeting 3 different young ladies with great careers ahead of them.
Christopher Alden directed this Olivier award winning 2008 production and it still looks as fresh as a daisy. His revival lighting designer this time was Kevin Sleep, who ensured a very visual and colourful production using the change of lighting to good effect, particularly in act 2.
There are tens of thousands of well-meaning operatic compositions that lay in the waste of time. It is extremely difficult to find the template required for a new work that does more than just have its ‘premiere’.
An old friend is back. To see Jonathan Miller’s Rigoletto return to the stage was a great comfort. It has been intelligently revived by Elaine Tyler-Hall and the sets (particularly the art deco at the beginning of Act I and in Act II) as well as the bar scene in Act III are clear, precise and still very relevant today.
Alban Berg’s work Lulu is rarely performed. With Schoenberg as a teacher, the music from this second Viennese composer is 12 note music and atonal. The opera was left unfinished at Berg’s death in 1935 and the complete opera was not performed in its entirety until 1979 when the Paris Opera, under the baton of Pierre Boulez, brought the whole 3 acts to a wider audience.
