{"id":3823,"date":"2017-10-02T13:23:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T12:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=3823"},"modified":"2017-10-02T13:23:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T12:23:36","slug":"richard-joness-acclaimed-production-of-rodelinda-returns-to-eno-conducted-by-christian-curnyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=3823","title":{"rendered":"Richard Jones\u2019s acclaimed production of\u00a0Rodelinda\u00a0returns to ENO, conducted by Christian Curnyn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opens Thursday 26 October at\u00a0<\/em>7pm at the London Coliseum (6 performances)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hailed as \u2018inspired\u2019 (The Evening Standard<\/em>) and \u2018outstanding\u2019 (The Observer<\/em>) at its premiere, Olivier Award-winning director Richard Jones\u2019s ingenious production of Handel\u2019s\u00a0Rodelinda<\/em>\u00a0returns to the London Coliseum in October. Among the returning faces are soprano Rebecca Evans in the title role and baroque specialist Christian Curnyn as conductor, along with ENO favourite Susan Bickley.<\/p>\n

One of Handel\u2019s great operatic masterpieces, Nicola Francesco Haym\u2019s libretto follows the travails of the queen Rodelinda and her fidelity to her husband Bertarido, presumed dead but returned to his kingdom in disguise. Jones\u2019s production sets Handel\u2019s bitter political drama in Fascist Italy, infusing it with the aesthetic of the surveillance state and authoritarian menace.<\/p>\n

Returning to the title role which she sang to \u2018just about perfection\u2019 (The Daily Telegraph<\/em>) in the original run, Welsh soprano Rebecca Evans further adds to her reputation as one the country\u2019s great Handelians. Notable roles with the company include Romilda in 2002\u2019s\u00a0Xerxes<\/em>\u00a0and the Governess in David McVicar\u2019s 2009 production of\u00a0The Turn of the Screw.<\/em><\/p>\n

Countertenor Tim Mead who sings the role of her husband Bertarido, was last seen at ENO as a \u2018radiant\u2019 (Gramophone<\/em>), \u2018ethereal voiced\u2019 (Sunday Times<\/em>) Voice of Apollo in 2013\u2019s\u00a0Death in Venice<\/em>. His performance in Rodelinda follows a run of acclaimed international Handel roles including Goffredo in 2014\u2019s Glyndebourne\u00a0Rinaldo,\u00a0<\/em>Arsamene in Theater an der Wien\u2019s 2015\u00a0Xerxes\u00a0<\/em>and earlier in 2017 Athamas for the Handel and Haydn Society\u2019s\u00a0Semele\u00a0<\/em>in Boston.<\/p>\n

Rising Spanish tenor Juan Sancho makes his ENO debut as the villainous Grimoaldo, who attempts to usurp Bertarido\u2019s throne. An accomplished international interpreter of Handel, his solo concert at the June 2017 Halle Handel Festival was \u2018greeted with great enthusiasm\u2019 (Bachtrack<\/em>).<\/p>\n

ENO favourite Susan Bickley returns to sing the rightful king\u2019s sister, Eduige. Seen earlier this year at ENO in the premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth\u2019s\u00a0The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>, Sue also\u00a0created roles in two recent ENO commissions;\u00a0\u00a0the Mother in Tansy Davies\u2019s award-winning\u00a0Between Worlds<\/em>\u00a0and Jocasta in the world premiere of Julian Anderson\u2019s\u00a0Thebans<\/em>\u00a0in 2014.<\/p>\n

Neal Davies, who also performed in the world premiere of\u00a0The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>, sings Garibaldo. A regular singer with English National Opera, Davies\u2019s performance in\u00a0Xerxes\u00a0<\/em>(2014) was described as \u2018so ballsy \u2026 that one wished the composer had given [him] more opportunities to strut [his] stuff\u2019 (The Daily Telegraph<\/em>). Countertenor Christopher Lowrey completes the singing cast, making his ENO debut as Unulfo. Actor Matt Casey reprises his silent role as Flavio from the original run.<\/p>\n

Conductor Christian Curnyn is well known as one of the UK\u2019s foremost baroque\u00a0\u00a0interpreters: \u2019Find anything exciting happening in period opera in the UK and Curnyn will be involved\u2019 (The Spectator<\/em>). He founded the Early Opera Company in 1994 in order to champion the relevance of baroque opera, and has won great acclaim for his recordings and performances in the area since, including his\u00a0\u2018terrific ensemble playing\u2019 (The Independent<\/em>) for the five-star\u00a0Partenope\u00a0<\/em>at ENO in March 2017.<\/p>\n

Richard Jones has a long creative relationship with ENO.\u00a0\u00a0He won the 2015 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for his much-lauded\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Mastersingers of Nuremburg,\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0The Girl of the Golden West\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Rodelinda<\/em>. The revival is directed by Donna Stirrup, a frequent ENO staff director who also directed last season\u2019s revival of\u00a0Tosca.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rodelinda\u00a0<\/em>opens on\u00a0Thursday 26 October at\u00a07pm at the London Coliseum\u00a0for 6 performances: 01, 03, 09 and 15 November at 7pm and 11 November at 6pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opens Thursday 26 October at\u00a07pm at the London Coliseum (6 performances) Hailed as \u2018inspired\u2019 (The Evening Standard) and \u2018outstanding\u2019 (The Observer) at its premiere, Olivier Award-winning director Richard Jones\u2019s ingenious production of Handel\u2019s\u00a0Rodelinda\u00a0returns to the London Coliseum in October. Among … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3824,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions\/3824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}