Review: Buxton Festival Fringe 2018: A La Francaise!
2018-08-24
It’s bad enough that the French won the World Cup, but to have a whole programme of French Opera and French Song is sort of mean! Well, NO, it’s quite special with all the great melodies and tunes. When you have Gounod, Saint-Saens, Lalo, Delibes, and Offenbach to choose fromContinue Reading
Review: The Merry Widow, May 2018
2018-08-24
Author: Kevin Proctor I’ve heard it said that ‘The Merry Widow’ is at its best when performed in intimate, unpretentious venues as opposed to lavish grand opera houses so Hope Mill is a virtuous space for COMO to return to this year for their stripped back interpretation of this illustriousContinue Reading
Review: Buxton Fringe Concert 2017
2018-02-13
AMORE! – CITY OF MANCHESTER OPERA Time for the annual visit to Buxton of this fine opera company. The concert was well attended and the performance was split into two halves which could be roughly classified as ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ The first half featured extracts from various operas by Tchaikovski,Continue Reading
Review: The Magic Flute @ Hope Mill Theatre
2018-02-13
The story itself is quite light hearted and almost pantomimic with fighting the baddies, falling in love and a happily ever after. Taking place on almost a blank canvas, it needed other things to lift it and bring it to life. The costumes, make up and the need of someContinue Reading
Review: Carmen, at RNCM, 2016
2016-08-24
Author: Kevin Proctor With this year’s opera of choice, ‘Carmen’, COMO certainly maintain their standard showing they’re a very consistent society, their regular audiences and supporters will know exactly what they’re going to get in terms of vocal and musical quality. It’s over a century since Bizet got busy onContinue Reading
Review: Bellissimo – Italian Opera Highlights @ Buxton Fringe Festival
2015-10-02
BUXTON FRINGE FESTIVAL JULY 2015 BELLISSIMO – ITALIAN OPERA HIGHLIGHTS – City of Manchester Opera An evening of Italian Opera Highlights with the City of Manchester Opera, Conductor Juan Ortuño, and accompanist Jonathan Ellis; and highlights were in abundance. There were times when I had to remind myself that thisContinue Reading
Review: The Tales of Hoffmann @ RNCM
2015-09-29
The Tales of Hoffmann June 2015 RNCM Manchester What stands out as the most impressive factor of this production was the calibre of the singing amongst the principal players which was nothing short of an exceptional treat. Robin played the distressed soul very convincingly and vocally was a delight tooContinue Reading
I can only urge opera lovers to make sure they catch their next visit.
2014-10-02
OPERA DELIGHTS – City of Manchester Opera City of Manchester Opera comes regularly to the Buxton Fringe, and is as regularly well reviewed, so how did I miss them all this time? Error now corrected. The Buxton Festival specialises in lesser known operas, but with this Fringe performance we gotContinue Reading
Review: The Bartered Bride – Buxton Fringe Festival 21 July 2012
2012-10-02
REVIEW THE BARTERED BRIDE – City of Manchester Opera THE BUXTON FRINGE FESTIVAL SATURDAY 21ST JULY 2012 City of Manchester Opera have become a regular feature in the Fringe programme and it was good to see them back again this year with their engaging conductor Juan Ortuno and brilliant accompanist JonathanContinue Reading