Olga Neuwirth, for a long time one of the great composers of the present, succeeds with this opera in creating a captivating arc across many musical genres. It’s an exciting, socially critical production by Polly Graham who puts a fantastically singing and playing Kate Lindsey in the center of the action.
Méphistophélès, less an intellectual "principle of negation" than a devilishly attractive magician, draws his attention to Marguerite - and Faust is delighted. A deal is quickly struck: the devil serves Faust on earth, and after Faust's death it is to be the other way around. Marguerite is also not unimpressed by what Méphistophélès has to offer: material luxury and sensual pleasure, often musically illustrated by Gounod with a waltz. But the relationship between Faust and Marguerite remains an episode, as Faust is drawn to new attractions, while Marguerite remains pregnant, only to see her unfaithful lover kill her brother.
Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2016/17: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2016)
Glyndebourne's wartime history as a home for evacuee children is the ingenious context for a new production of this unclassifiable entertainment in which low comedy and high tragedy compete for our attention, "borne aloft by Strauss's divine music and Hofmannsthal's visionary poetry". At the centre of this production from Katharina Thoma is the noble, tragic figure of the abandoned Ariadne herself, in a haunting performance from Soile Isokoski, 'with brilliant support from the pit' (The Independent).
Tamino, a handsome prince, and Papageno, a bird-catcher, are sent by the Queen of Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. Julie Taymor's abridged, English-language production of the classic Mozart opera.
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