Last night was the first night of the Opera Holland Park season.
It was Eugene Onegin an opera that never fails to please me and I have never seen a bad production. However, a friend told me last night she saw a dreadful production at Glyndebourne. What a long way to go to see something disappointing and annoyingly expensive. OHPs USPs are it’s on the doorstep and the tickets are half the price of a West End musical so I could hardly complain if it messed up. It does not MU. Like the Met it delivers trad productions and attracts excellent singers – maybe not quite as good as the Met. If you want to know about the finer points of the singing and the orchestra I suggest you search for reviews but an international cast, including a Czech conducting the City of London Sinfonia, hit the spot for me.
How do opera singers sing? There was a lesson last night. They take big breaths before they start on a big number and then off they go. How do I know? It was so cold their breath was clearly visible and it appeared as they were getting ready. I hope they did not get any throat problems singing under such cold circs.
I read today in The Times the Royal Opera House is changing its production of Madama Butterfly to “reduce the accusations of racism laid against Puccini’s opera”. Why does RoHo stop there? An opera about a fifteen year old prostitute having sex and a baby with an officer in the US Navy is not edifying. On the other hand it is a cathartic opera that we would be the poorer without. Now I wonder how The Mikado will be changed to reflect racism, capital punishment, ageism, etc?