Il Trittico review – an eloquent, gutsy outpouring of Puccini’s passion and pain
Brief letters
Please, no more pics of Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak … or Taylor Swift
May 2024
The Very Last Green Thing review – youth opera gives voice to environmental anxiety
Weston Studio, WMC, Cardiff As the Welsh National Youth Opera’s 10 to 18-year-olds update Cary John Franklin’s opera it is clear its message remains all too necessary three decades on
Opioids the Opera: painkiller’s ‘lurid tale of greed’ inspires new production
An ex-ENO artistic head and the co-director who staged War Horse working on a contemporary opera about drug addiction crisis
The week in classical: Carmen; Celebrating 22 Years of Antonio Pappano – review
Glyndebourne hits 90 with Bizet’s sultry crowd-pleaser. Elsewhere, a starry farewell to a much loved maestro, and the fight to save Welsh National Opera
March 2024
The outlook is gloomy for opera in Wales
Letter: Clive Summers on the withdrawal of funding from Mid Wales Opera. Plus, Paul Collins on English National Opera’s forthcoming move from London
The Guardian view on opera and circus: a populist pairing that scales the heights
Editorial: Featuring awe-inspiring aerial antics, Welsh National Opera’s Death In Venice shows how innovative the art form can still be
The week in classical: Death in Venice; Giant; Angela Hewitt review – five-star Britten and more
Death in Venice review – Britten’s final opera soars in WNO’s captivating staging
‘We’re all agog’: Behind the scenes at Welsh National Opera’s Death in Venice – in pictures
February 2024
Così fan Tutte review – beautifully sung hard lessons in the cash-strapped school of love
Puccini: Symphonic Suites album review – Carlo Rizzi celebrates an opera giant’s genius
November 2023
The Guardian view on touring opera: thwarted in its mission to bring music to the people
Editorial: It would be a tragedy if funding cuts reinforced the myth that a varied and vital art form is simply a pastime for the metropolitan elite
September 2023
Ainadamar review – a defiant and impassioned defence of freedom
Welsh National Opera mount Osvaldo Golijov’s opera about the assassinated Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca – a fiercely evocative piece with the feel of a passion play
July 2023
Graham Clark obituary
Tenor who loved exploring dramatic possibilities in Wagner with imaginative directors at Bayreuth and Covent Garden
June 2023
Candide review – WNO go for broke with picaresque, Pythonesque craziness
Kathryn Harries obituary
March 2023
The Magic Flute review – WNO’s hectic new version is a lightsaber too far
Daisy Evans’ psychedelic and frantic modern reworking dodges the original’s problems, but loses much of Mozart’s magic and energy in the process – and the flute itself
February 2023
Blaze of Glory! review – WNO’s warm-hearted community opera hits all the right notes
Hymns, jazz, doo-wop and 19th-century French choral numbers form an unlikely patchwork in Caroline Clegg’s dynamic theatrical staging
January 2023
Glyndebourne cancels 2023 tour programme after funding cuts
Opera company lost more than half its funding after Arts Council England sought to divert money to underserved regions
