February 201 1 Vo lume 62 No 2 Editor John Allison Deputy Editors Erica Jeal Amanda Holloway Subscriptions Manager Megan Jackson Publishing Manager Andrew Miles Editorial Board Martin Bernheimer Hugh Canning Rupert Christiansen Andrew Clark Andrew Clements Richard Fairman Geor ge Hall Michael Kennedy Fiona Maddocks Rodney Milnes (Chairman) Roger Parker Andrew Porter Editorial Offices 36 Black Lion Lane London W6 9BE Te lephone: 020 8563 8893 Fax: 020 8563 8635 email: editor@opera.co.uk We bsite: www .opera.co.uk Subscriptions Te lephone: 020 8748 091 1 email: operasubs@opera.co.uk Advertising Jane Stoggles Cabbell Publishing Ltd Te lephone: 020 8971 8450 Fax: 020 8971 8480 Fr ont cover: Michaela Schuster as Ve nus and Johan Botha in the title role of ‘T annhäuser ’ a t C ovent Garden (see pp. 226-9) (photo: Clive Barda)

Founded in 1950 by the Earl of Harewood

Past Editors Harold Rosenthal and Rodney Milnes

131 Elephant in the room

By the Editor 132 People 387: Eva-Maria Westbroek

Hugh Canning 138 Readers’ letters 142 Tunis—an operatic outpost

Charles Pitt recounts a story of Franco-Italian rivalry in north Africa 149 Newsdesk 152 Making history

Daniel Snowman on two new studies of opera in the Third Reich 156 Hugues Cuénod, 1902-2010

George Christie 157 Obituary 160 Opera around the world 216 Opera in Britain 229 Opera on CD 234 Opera on DVD 238 Opera books 241 Coming events including plans for the UK houses, Melbourne (Victorian Opera), Salzburg (Easter Festival), Sarasota; ‘We hear that …’; Opera calendar home and abroad 255 Classified advertisements 256 Wish I’d been there …

George Hall

Opera, February 2011

129