Category Archives: going to operas

A family night out at the opera

#enowozzeck In fact we didn’t all go to the same opera. My husband and daughter went to Don Carlos at Covent Garden (she will write about this in her own blog in due course), and when I realised that the … Continue reading

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Sequins, meat-hooks and umbrellas

#wnolulu WNO didn’t make it to Bristol with their new production of Lulu, so I had to go to Cardiff. Judging by what I heard around me, quite a few others had crossed the Severn for the opening night. (I … Continue reading

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a Bohème that will run and run

We went to see Welsh National Opera’s La bohème in Bristol, the first time I’d had this standard operatic experience. The production was new this year, and I predict that it will be returning more than once, as it suits … Continue reading

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A genuinely funny opera performance

All too often at performances of the opera you get that rather strained, knowing laughter that people produce when they feel it’s expected of them rather than when it is actually derived from the performance. There was a fair amount … Continue reading

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An unrepresentative audience for Berlioz

I went to Welsh National Opera’s production of Beatrice and Benedict at the Bristol Hippodrome. This was a sumptuous production, with lavish sets and costumes, and beautifully lit as the evening turned to moonlight in the first act. But if … Continue reading

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Don Giovanni: Rodin meets Velasquez

It’s a bit like what they say about rats: you’re never far from a performance of Don Giovanni. This is one of my favourite operas, certainly my favourite by Mozart, and shamefully I’d never seen it.  At last I took … Continue reading

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Weber/Berlioz at the Proms

My husband went to the penultimate night of the Proms. It’s no longer invariably Beethoven 9; this time it was a semi-staged performance of Der Freischütz in the adaptation by Berlioz, which sets recitatives to music and uses Invitation to … Continue reading

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I get to hear Eternal Light

This piece by Howard Goodall seems to be flavour of the month right now. It received two performances on the south side of Lansdown Hill within four weeks, the second being by CanZona. It formed the second part of a … Continue reading

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Carmen at the Hippodrome

My daughter and I went to WNO’s Carmen at the Bristol Hippodrome – her first visit to an opera performance. The theatre was full (which caused some rather noisy air-conditioning to be turned on in the second act) and she … Continue reading

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in the gallery – or not?

I went to hear Bath Minerva Choir conducted by Gavin Carr perform their seasonal concert, An English Christmas, in St Swithin’s Church, Walcot. This was the first time I’d been to a concert in this church (I gather that they … Continue reading

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