Author Archives: Admin

DVDs/CDs March 2019

Posted on by
Puccini: Tosca
Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann
UNITEL 748308

Just occasionally a new production rings all the right bells even though it is unconventional. This modern dress approach by Michael Sturminger starts in an underground car-park with a shoot-out – it is Angelotti escaping. However unexpected this might be, the characterisation is spot on and in Ludovic Tezier we have one of the most convincing Scarpias I have ever encountered. The denouement is equally startling but I won’t give the game away. Anja Jarteros is a convincing opera singer as Tosca and her solid Cavaradossi, Aleksandrs Antonenko, provides heroic top notes where needed. Chorus are more involved than usual and using the boys as the firing-squad is brutal but absolutely in keeping with the fascist character of the whole presentation. Christian Thielemann’s handling of the score is masterly. Well worth seeing, even if you think you know everything there is to know about Tosca.

 

Chabrier: L’Etoile
Dutch National Opera, Patrick Fournillier
NAXOS 2.110595

I wanted to like this, for the music is entertaining throughout, but it really is a little too fantastical for the every day. Thankfully it is very well sung and the orchestra is spritely throughout, though for once an audio recording might have done just as well.

 

Fairytale Operas
Hansel & Gretel: The Cunning Little Vixen; The Adventures of Pinocchio
OPUS ARTE OA 1270 BD

The Hansel & Gretel comes from the Royal Opera under Colin Davis and dates from 2008; The Cunning Little Vixen is the Glyndebourne production of 2012 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski  and  Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio is from Opera North under David Parry in 2008. The linkage may be somewhat dubious but the strength of the individual productions makes this a very satisfactory line up. The Vixen is probably the most familiar of the three, though the Hansel & Gretel was famous at the time for the performance of Anja Silja as the Witch. Having first seen her in Bayreuth in 1965 her performance here is amazing and quite compelling. The rarity if the Jonathan Dove which is certainly not out of place and will hopefully be seen by far more enthusiasts because of the coupling. With box sets being such a normal part of life today it should succeed.

 

Dvorak: Symphony No 9
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Roger Norrington
SWR 19515CD

This is a live recording made in Stuttgart in 2008 and has Roger Norrington’s seal firmly stamped on in in terms of its tempi and balance. Highly enjoyable if at times idiosyncratic.

 

Bach Cantatas
Amici Voices
HYPERION CDA 68275

We have become used to Bach with smaller vocal forces, which the Amici Voices provide here to splendid effect. The three cantatas include Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit which gives an interesting insight into Bach’s approach to death. Where so many of the cantatas are full of remorse and confession, this funeral cantata is remarkably cheerful as it looks forward to eternal life. The other two cantatas are Komm, Jesu, komm and Himmelskonig, sei willkommen together with an arrangement of O Gott, du frommer Gott.

 

Sousa: Music for Wind Band – 18
Trinity Laban Wind Orchestra, Keith Brion
NAXOS 8.559812

I love this series and wonder how much longer it will go on for.  Yet again there is a great deal to enjoy here and the Trinity Laban Wind Orchestra give us exhilarating performances. Much of the music seems tongue-in-cheek, particularly The Stag Party which in the nineteenth century was a student night out and nothing to do with weddings. The Merry-Merry Chorus is recorded, surprisingly, for the first time – but we can only look forward to the next instalment.

 

Boieldieu: Piano concerto; six overtures
Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Howard Griffiths
CPO 555 244-2

I first encountered Boieldieu as a statue in the Place Boieldieu in Rouen but at the time knew nothing of his music. Even today, with so many recordings available, he is not often encountered. All the more welcome then this recording of so many of his overtures, some of which occasionally see the light of day at the start of a concert but are otherwise ignored. The Piano Concerto is pleasing but does not have the musical life or immediacy which the overtures require.

 

Tippett: Symphonies 3, 4 & B flat
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rachel Nicholls, Martyn Brabbins
HYPERION CDA 68231/2

Not an easy listen but a compelling one. Tippett has unfortunately dropped out of favour since his death which is hardly justified by the quality of his large output. If you need a way into this new cd then the Symphony in B flat will certainly help. An early work, it is closer to the lyricism of his earlier operas that the later symphonies and so provides a link into the more demanding later works. Martyn Brabbins handles the scores with skill and authority.

More CD reviews to follow for March 2019

‘Vision – the Imagined Testimony of Hildegard of Bingen’, Thursday 21 March, St Paul’s Worthing

Posted on by

How did you celebrate International Women’s Day? Probably not with your feet up listening to Hildegard of Bingen.

That kind of celebration comes on Thursday evening 21 March at St Paul’s Worthing  . . . 7pm doors/bar-café  . . . 7.30pm concert-play about her life: ‘Vision – the Imagined Testimony of Hildegard of Bingen’. It features TV primetime series actress Teresa Banham as Hildegard and musicians The Telling whose Clare Norburn wrote this. Direction is by long-term TV creator, Nicholas Renton. There’s Q&A including audience questions.

If I start talking about Hildegard of Bingen now, I’ll never stop. I’ll ‘just’ say that the figurehead woman of The Early Middle Ages inspired The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick with her natural healing, nutrition, mysticism and philosophy. She’s a modern heroine.

Her reputation and action battled its way though male-dominated Medieval society until its leaders and rulers finally swallowed something humble and sought her advice. And it strove on through a further nine centuries of obscurity until today’s men granted her recent sainthood. Do we call that modern progress?

Her poetry and music, discovered only in the 1970s, makes her the first composer in history to be known by name, and now the western world’s favourite female composer. It’s music that sounds out of this world, yet is earthly and sensual, and stirs our own souls’ connectivity with the imagined but undefinable. What a musical personality to possess.

As an experience, with these artistes, at this venue, in this ambience, this intimate presentation, it will be special. Full information, production pictures, links, opinions, insights, recommendations, click to ‘About’ and ‘Discussion’ at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/353713648779706/

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Posted on by
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, Sunday 17 March, 2.45pm, Brighton Dome Concert Hall
Barry Wordsworth – Conductor
Steven Osborne – Piano

 

For the last concert of this our 94th season the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, with Barry Wordsworth conducting, are performing a brilliant late Romantic piano concerto and a masterly symphony that tells a story in music. To start the afternoon off we are playing an overture that gives the game away in its title – Joyeuse Marche.

For Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto we welcome back the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne who, on the 9th April 1989, won the inaugural Brighton Piano Competition. Steven has since played with Barry and the Brighton Phil a further four times and is now one of the country’s most influential and brilliant pianists – equally at home in the recording studio and on the concert platform. Steven has recorded a CD of Rachmaninov’s music (Études-Tableaux Op. 33 and Op. 39) which was released by Hyperion last July – CDA68188.

Born in 1873 Rachmaninov completed this piano concerto in 1909 whilst living in Dresden. The concerto quickly became both loved and feared in equal measure amongst pianists, and has now gained the reputation of being one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard repertoire. It also cemented Rachmaninov’s reputation as one of the finest of the late Romantic composers.

The concerto’s first performance was in New York with Rachmaninov as soloist; he had practiced it on a silent keyboard as he travelled by boat from Europe to America. The second performance, a few months later in 1910, was with Gustav Mahler conducting – an experience that Rachmaninov treasured greatly.

Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique or to give it its full title, An episode in the life of an artist in five parts, was written in 1830 and its first performance was later that year in Paris.

The symphony is vaguely autobiographical and the first movement Rêverie is the artist falling desperately in love, which in turn creates all forms of passions, aimless joy, fury, jealousy and complete tenderness. For the second movement Un bal the artist is in the tumult of a festive party, contemplating the joy of nature everywhere, in the fields and in the town – but at all times he is troubled by the haunting image of his love. In Scéne aux champs, the third movement, the artist hears two shepherds calling in the distance and with the rustle of trees his heart is momentarily healed, but then the brooding melancholy of loneliness and betrayal causes dark premonitions. At the end the shepherd calls again, but the other one does not answer, adding to the artists despair. In the fourth movement Marche au Supplice the artist is convinced he is betrayed – he tries to poison himself but only falls into a deep sleep, where he dreams he has killed his beloved and sees himself being taken to the scaffold to witness his own execution. The last movement is Songe d’une nuit du sabbat – the artist sees himself at his own funeral in the midst of witches, sorcerers and monsters. He sees his love entering the party and the grotesque scene unfolds as the funeral bell tolls and we end with the dance of the witches combined with the Dies irae.

We open this, our last concert of the season, with a very popular overture by the French composer Emmanuel Chabrier, who wrote his Joyeuse Marche initially as a piano piece, orchestrating it later in 1888. It was premiered in Paris in 1889 with the composer conducting and was enthusiastically received, remaining a concert favourite ever since.

Our concert is dedicated to the memory of DV Newbold, CBE, a staunch and generous supporter and sponsor of the orchestra for many years who passed away last March at the age of 91.

Tickets from £12.50-£39.50 (50% student/Under 18 discount, children just £1) available from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, (01273) 709709, www.brightondome.org

Discounted parking available in NCP Church Street Car Park – just £6 between 1pm and 6pm. Simply park as normal and collect a follow-on ticket at the concert to receive the discounted rate.

 

Merry Opera Company: Pirates of Penzance

Posted on by

Hazlitt Theatre Maidstone and touring

Musically, for me, the success (or not) of any production of The Pirates of Penzance hangs on “Hail Poetry”. It’s a wonderful moment when everything stops, the cast becomes a choir and Sullivan indulges himself in a splendid four line anthem (complete with exasperatedly daft Gilbertian words – you can almost hear WSG’s irritation) in homage to Mendelssohn. And in the hands of Merry Opera Company under their MD Gabriel Chernick it rings out magnificently – every member of the cast of 14 singing with warm commitment. I could have done without the distracting stage business, though. It takes less than a minute and I think there’s a strong argument for letting the audience listen to it properly in all its loveliness.

Merry Opera is a Kent-based bijoux company which tours scaled down versions of operas and semi-dramatised, immersive versions of works such as Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem. It works with fine young singers and almost always delivers the goods. And The Pirates of Penzance, their first foray into Gilbert and Sullivan, is no exception. Every single person on stage is a talented singer.

It’s the quality of the music which really makes this production work. Gabriel Chernick, on keyboard, has arranged the score very imaginatively for a trio with Eloise Macdonald on violin and Georgina van Hien playing wind and brass – sitting downstage right where they almost become part of the action. I really love the way he has woven in continuos and sympathetic counter melodies. I’m sure Sir Arthur would have approved. And it supports the singing immaculately.

Mimi Doulton, as Mabel for instance is a fine coloratura soprano hitting every one of those absurdly high notes with sparky panache as she smiles through the music at her Frederic, an excellent tenor, although I wish he hadn’t been directed to use that  gratingly strangled heightened RP voice in the dialogue. It isn’t funny.  Samuel Pantcheff sings the Pirate King (bass) with lots of arresting richness, Phil Wilcox is a skilled and very nimble Major General – the presto encore in his famous number is good fun – and Matthew Quirk is a delightful, rubber kneed, gor-blimey Sergeant of Police.

On the music front then, this is a good production. Dramatically, however, I found it tiresomely fussy. Of course G&S cries out to be camped up and some of it is so absurd that only witty over acting makes it work but director John Ramster over-eggs it here.  There is no need for the Pirates to keep making stereotypical “piratical” noises like something out of a strip cartoon, for example. And, for me, the “duty” joke (whenever the word is mentioned, attention is drawn to it – I’ll spare you the spoilers) wears thin after half an hour or so. It all gives the impression of trying just a bit too hard. The material is very strong and there’s a case for allowing it to work its magic without quite so much embellishment.

Susan Elkin

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Posted on by

The Dome, Brighton, Sunday 3 March 2019

In a rather refreshing change from the usual overture-concerto-symphony format, this seven work concert was themed on holidays and travel, starting with Mendelssohn in the Hebrides (suitably evocative) and ending in Rome with Tchaikovsky and the Capricccio Italien (nice tambourine duet). And the variety certainly brought the best out in the orchestra who were in rather good form under their Conductor Laureate, Barry Wordsworth.

The highlight for me was Hugo Alfven’s 1903 Swedish Rhapsody much of which I have known since primary school but have never before heard played live. It’s a very upbeat, tuneful celebration of Sweden in midsummer with lots of folksy tunes and is beautifully – wittily – orchestrated. Among the many solo spots the perfectly played bassoon passage was least expected and the most enjoyable. It was a good concert for the principal bassoon actually, because later he also delivered a sparkily immaculate solo in the Cherry Ripe section of Eric Coates’s London Suite – another splendid piece which doesn’t get enough outings.

Anatoly Lyadov (too lazy to get on with the Firebird commission so Diagelev asked the young Stravinsky instead, Wordsworth told the audience) is not a very familiar concert hall name but his Delius-like The Enchanted Lake came off well enough at this concert. It’s a very slow piece of programme music with lots of legato strings which is always a challenge. Wordsworth, now seated on a stool, conducted it with a lot of manual fluidity.

It’s a pleasure too to hear The Banks of Green Willow in a concert – always so poignant  because it is so redolent with wistful unfulfilled promise since Butterworth died at the Battle of the Somme aged 31. The oboe solo was especially lovely at this performance and Wordsworth brought out all the intangible “Englishness” which underlies the piece.

We also got two trains in this concert – to transport us in musical imagination from place to place. Honnegger’s Pacific 231 was evocatively played, extra percussionists having joined the orchestra, with masses of orchestral colour. Then finally the encore, Vivian Ellis’s very familiar Coronation Scott, whizzed us away on another train with lots of musical panache and ensured that we all left the dome with our heads rattling with jolly earworms.

Susan Elkin

ENO: The Merry Widow

Posted on by

London Coliseum, Friday 1 March 2019

No-one could surely doubt that The Merry Widow is a masterpiece but in recent years I can’t recall a production which did it justice. At last, we have one. In one way this is a refreshingly old-fashioned approach. Solid naturalistic sets, sensitively lit to reflect the shifting emotions, and costumed in a way which is securely Edwardian even if it drifts comfortably out of period when it needs to. But the other side is a master-stroke. The new book and lyrics by April De Angelis and Richard Thomas are the best we have heard for many years and surely on a par with Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter. There are so many felicitous lines, and ones that spin so easily with the music that this should become the accepted version for many years to come. The jokes come thick and fast but are always within the context of the action and any apparent reflections on Brexit are quickly picked up by the willing audience.

The work is cast from strength with Sarah Tynan a riveting Hanna Glawari. This is no genteel aristocrat but a woman who has seen difficult days and worked her way up. For once, her ability to dance as well as the Grisettes seems quite feasible, and her rendition of Vilja perched high above on a crescent moon was a moment worthy of Busby Berkeley. Her relationship with Nathan Gunn’s Danilo is also more complex. There seems to be a strong back story here and I can’t recall before being so aware of how close the relationship is to Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. They care deeply but are never in a position to disclose it, even in the mixed social setting which Max Webster’s production creates. Not until they get to the point where money can be ignored can love begin to flourish.

The other romantic interest – Rhian Lois’ forceful Valencienne and Robert Murray’s Camille – are more obviously physical than usual and she takes the lead where he might hang back. Andrew Shore’s Zeta is the connecting link between the two couples and shines as ever with his comic timing as well as his credibility.

The dancers are nicely over the top and the Maxim’s scene hints towards Cabaret in a not unpleasing fashion. There is decadence here as well as potential debauchery. The ENO chorus provides many of the smaller roles and proves once again what a depth of talent is available. In the pit Kristiina Poska drives a sparkling account of the score which never drops for a second.

Though it has not happened recently, could a west-end transfer be in the offing? Audiences who flock to 42nd Street would surely love this and I assume ENO would not begrudge the extra income?

 

 

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Posted on by

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, Sunday 3 March, 2.45pm, Brighton Dome

Symphonic concerts generally fall into the same pattern – an overture, a concerto, an interval and then a symphony. But when you introduce a theme into the concert, the shape changes completely.

For this our seventh concert in the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s season, conducted by Barry Wordsworth, we have taken the theme of travel and the means to get to those far off exotic destinations. The holiday season is not that far away, so let your local orchestra introduce you to some stunning locations, and conjure up in music the means to get there.

We open with probably the most popular and evocative travel piece written for orchestra, summoning up the wildness of a Scottish coast and sea by a German composer on holiday – Felix Mendelssohn’s Overture to the Hebrides and the particular place he loved to watch the sea – Fingal’s Cave.

Hugo Alfvén was born in 1872 and started out as a virtuoso violinist, but after becoming a composer he stood out as a great advocator of Swedish national romanticism. His rhapsody for orchestra Midsommarvaka is in four sections and depicts a couple wandering alone in the Nordic light of mid-summer with a Swedish folk song band in the background – a fine description of youth, joy and humour wrapped up in melodic and harmonic elegance.

Anatoly Lyadov was a very influential Russian composer. He was a very private man who famously wrote to his great friend Rimsky Korsakov “Give me fairies and dragons, mermaids and goblins and I am thoroughly happy.” His short essay in orchestration, Le Lac Enchanté, shows what a talented composer he was, conjuring up the beauty of an enchanted lake in music.

Arthur Honegger was born in 1882 to Swiss parents and studied in Paris. He, like Dvo?ák, was a great steam train enthusiast, and he wrote his one movement orchestral piece Pacific 231 inspired by a powerful steam engine – the numbers signifying the wheel combination. Honegger said in an interview that his aim was not to imitate the sound of a locomotive, but to convey in musical form a visual impression of the engine quietly at rest, and the sense of exertion as it starts up and speeds off into the night.

Eric Coates (born in 1886) studied at the Royal Academy of Music and was Principal Viola of the Queens Hall Orchestra, playing under many of the great composers of the time including Elgar and Strauss. As a composer he came into his own in the 1920s and ‘30s as a brilliant writer of ‘light classical’ music. The London Suite is typical of his creative writing and consists of three dances: Covent Garden (Tarantella), Westminster (Meditation) and Knightsbridge (March). The latter was for many years the signature tune to In Town Tonight – in fact when it was first broadcast the BBC had over 20,000 phone calls asking the title of the piece!

George Butterworth sadly died in the trenches of the First World War and was a composer who used the folk songs of Sussex, many collected in 1907 along with his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams. The Banks of Green Willow was written in 1913 and depicts a typically English scene. Sir Adrian Boult premiered the work in Liverpool in 1914, his debut as a professional conductor.

We finish this concert of travel, places and scenes with a brilliant fantasy for orchestra written by Tchaikovsky in 1880 after a trip to Rome with his brother. Capriccio Italien is a compositional essay of the sounds, folk tunes and street music of the Italian capital. Opening with a bugle call, inspired by the early-morning sound of the barracks near his hotel, he moves on to a string melody, then recreates the sounds of street music and, after a quick march, we end with an orchestral tarantella.

Tickets (£12.50-£39.50, 50% student/U18 discount, children just £1) from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, (01273) 709709, www.brightondome.org

Discounted parking (just £6 between 1pm and 6pm) is available for BPO concert-goers at NCP Church Street Car Park. Simply park as normal and collect a follow-on ticket at the concert.

 

 

Hastings Philharmonic

Posted on by

Christ Church, St Leonards, Saturday 23 February 2019

It is not quite Lent but the four Bach Cantatas presented on Saturday work remarkably well as a sequence which both prepares us for the meditative approach to Easter and involves us in the emotional and spiritual conflicts of the journey.

The joy of these Cantatas is the subtlety of the writing and the constantly changing combinations of voices and instruments. Here Hastings Philharmonic is blessed with admirable Baroque soloists in addition to the solo voices. Gavin Kibble moves effortlessly from solo cello to the richer tones of the solo gamba, often accompanied on the solo lute by Cedric Meyer. When the second half Cantatas call for woodwind, Richard Earle doubled on oboe and recorder, with Martin Clark’s bassoon providing the bass line. Petra Hajduchova moved between harpsichord and organ keyboard – a pity Christ Church does not have a small chamber organ for occasions like this.  These together with a small body of string players created a splendid range of emotional involvement, quite in keeping with the intimacy of the settings.

Vocally, the four Cantatas became more complex as they proceeded. Soprano Lin Westcott was the lone soloist in Nach dir, Herr BWV150, joined by counter-tenor Eric Schlossberg, tenor Kieran White and bass Alexander McMillan in various combinations in the later three. As often happens, Marcio da Silva allowed himself a solo line in the final cantata, Gottes Zeit BWV106, giving us a warmly moving reading of the baritone solo. However this was not an evening for self-indulgence, and the quiet but telling intensity of singing from all soloists was very moving. The Chamber Choir was again seated in a wide horse-shoe, allowing voices to carry with ease and to allow the different musical structures to flow smoothly. That the soloists were a normal part of the choir reflects not only historic praxis but a sense of communal commitment to the presentation. There are no stars here.

Bach’s settings show a very close attention to the texts and it is these that are the primary drivers of the scores. There is never anything extraneous simply for the sake of it. There are occasional developed Hallelujas and a fine double-fugue Amen, but they are kept firmly under control – there is no Handelian, or rather Georgian, indulgence here. The most extrovert moments come in the recognition and delight in the life of the world to come. This may not be very fashionable today but it came across with an emotional truth which was both moving and poignant.

The next concert – a complete contrast – brings us Tchaikovsky, Glass, Grieg and Sibelius at St Mary in the Castle on Friday 15th March.

ENO: The Magic Flute

Posted on by

Simon McBurney’s ‘life-enhancing’ production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute returns to ENO

Opens Thursday 14 March 

Simon McBurney’s much-loved production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute returns to the London Coliseum for its third run in March. A collaboration with pioneering theatre company Complicite, this unique rendition of Mozart’s great fable combines singers with a troop of actors evoking a magical world populated with monsters and mystery. Live sound effects, animation, live drawing and the ENO Orchestra raised to stage level make this a joyously accessible operatic event.

Simon McBurney is one of world theatre’s most important contemporary figures. Co-founder and Artistic Director of theatre company Complicite, his vast body of work includes A Disappearing Number, The Master and Margarita and for ENO A Dog’s Heart, nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production in 2011. His film and television roles include those in Rev, Harry Potter and Mission Impossible, with his ‘astonishing’ (The New York Times) one-man-show The Encounter currently being made into a film.

Rupert Charlesworth takes up his first ENO leading role as Tamino. He was last seen at ENO as Emilio in Partenope in 2017: ‘absolutely dazzles’ (The Arts Desk).

He is joined by soprano Lucy Crowe, who returns to the role of Pamina: ‘London’s best sung Pamina in years’ (The Guardian) that gained her such plaudits for the last run in 2016.  Since then she has given a very well-received Countess in Fiona Shaw’s The Marriage of Figaro in 2018: ‘her sound has such warmth, fullness, and power that it suffuses the whole auditorium with a golden glow’ (The Independent).

Thomas Oliemans takes on another great Mozart comic baritone role as the bumbling birdcatcher Papageno after impressing in the title role of The Marriage of Figaro in 2018. A veteran of this production, he has sung its Papageno at both the Dutch National Opera and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence: ‘a well-deserved audience darling’ (The New York Times).

German soprano Julia Bauer makes her house debut as the villainous Queen of the Night, having performed it on many occasions in her native Germany, including multiple well- received performances at the Komische Oper Berlin.

Brindley Sherratt sings Sarastro, reprising a role he last sang with the company in 2007. Associated with many ENO roles including Ramfis in Phelim McDermott’s Aida, Creon in Charpentier’s Medea and Pimen in Boris Godunov, he is Artist in Residence and Advisor to the Harewood Artists.

Monostatos is sung by Daniel Norman, who sang the First Jew earlier in the season in Salome. ENO Harewood Artist Rowan Pierce sings Papagena, her second role with the company after a ‘scorching’ (WhatsonStage) performance in Paul Bunyan as Tiny, one she will reprise in May at Alexandra Palace Theatre.

Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and winner of the Salzburg Festival Young Conductor’s Award Ben Gernon makes his ENO debut. He is one of the youngest conductors to have held a titled position with a BBC orchestra.

The Magic Flute opens Thursday 14 March at 7.30pm for 9 performances: 14, 21, 23, and 28 March and 2, 9 and 11 April at 7.30pm, 16 March at 6.30pm and 6 April at 3pm

500 tickets for £20 or less are available for each performance. Tickets start from £12*.