FRONT OF HOUSE

ˆ EDITORIAL

Opera in an age of anxiety

˝ LETTERS

Your views and suggestions

°-˛˙ NEWS & NOTES

Welsh National Opera cuts touring • Obituary: opera director Michael˜Hampe • Letter from Chicago (10) • Voice of Black Opera (13)

REVIEWS

˘˙-ˆ° LIVE REVIEWS

UK & IRELAND Royal Opera House Alcina (34); English National Opera Yeomen of the Guard (36); UK Round up Aldeburgh Productions/ROH Linbury Rape of Lucretia; Music Theatre Wales Puss in Boots (38-39); Welsh National Opera Migrations (40); Scottish Opera Ainadamar (42); Irish˜National Opera Guillaume Tell (44) USA Metropolitan Opera, New York Peter Grimes (46); Houston Grand Opera The˜Wreckers (48) EUROPE Ravenna Festival Mozart/Da Ponte Autumn Trilogy (50); Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris La Perichole (52); Opéra-Comique Paris Armide (54)Opéra Royal de Versailles David et Jonathas (56)Hungarian State Opera Dido and Aeneas (58)

˝˛-˝˘ RECORDINGS

New releases on CD, Digital & AV including: Lena Belkina, Passion for Ukraine; Leoncavallo’s Zingari; Rigoletto from the Royal Opera House; Stravinsky/ Tchaikovsky double bill from the Bavarian State Opera; Robert le diable from the Bru Zane Foundation; Matthew Locke’s Psyche from Les Talens Lyriques

˝˙-ˇ˛ SPOTLIGHT

COVER PHOTO: SIMON FOWLERWorldwide Opera Guide and answers to this issue’s Quiz (p71)

SIMON FOSTER

˛˝ Cover feature

Samoan-born tenor Pene Pati’s phenomenal success on the international stage is proof of the power of determination, patience and an innate desire to do things di˜erently. He describes to Helena Matheopoulos his unusual journey from a remote Polynesian island into the global operatic spotlight

˜˙ Director’s Cut

Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski has caused a stir in the opera world, with provocative productions aimed at making his audiences think

˘˜ Shaking up Fidelio

American composer David Lang’s soul-searching update of Beethoven’s Fidelio resumes its Covid-delayed tour of Europe this spring

ˆ Books

Opera: The Autobiography of the Western World by Simon Banks

ˇ˜ My Favourite Things

Composer Jonathan Dove takes delight in Greek goats

ˇ˙ Quiz

Who was the first to sing Tosca lying down? Test your opera knowledge in our monthly quiz

FARZANA WAHIDY

˜° A Thousand Splendid˜Suns

Based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini, this new opera charts the lives of two Afghan women trapped in a cycle of oppression and violence. We preview Seattle Opera’s forthcoming world premiere