Contents

FRONT OF HOUSE EDITORIAL Business as usual?

LETTERS Your thoughts and suggestions

M U S S A C C H I

O& I

A N N I

E L L O

ESSAY Can opera be environmentally friendly?

NEWS & NOTES A new dating App for voice-lovers; hyperreality at the Royal Opera

LETTER FROM… Atlanta, Georgia, where Atlanta Opera has been thinking up innovative ways of keeping audiences entertained in a pandemic

18

REVIEWS - LIVE REVIEWS La clemenza di Tito at The Royal Opera House (50), Highlights from the New National Theatre Tokyo (52), Le soulier de Satin (world premiere) at Paris Opera (56), Andrea Chénier at the Greek National Opera, Athens (58) Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival (60)

‡- RECORDINGS New releases (62-64) including Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera, Handel’s Ariodante, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Verdi’s Falstaff and Leoncavallo/Mascagni Cav & Pag (Opera Now Choice); Mascagni’s Iris (65); Solos discs of early music with William Towers, Kate Lindsey and Emilio Gonzales Toro (66); Chandos’ English Song Collection (68); Natalie Dessay –The Opera Singer (70)

- SPOTLIGHT UK Festivals and End-of-Season guide

COVER PHOTO: MUSSACCHIO & IANNIELLO

‘In order to work well with singers you need to be not just

a good musician but also

a good psychologist’

CONTENTS

MAESTRO CON MOTO The Royal Opera’s resident knight Sir Antonio Pappano prepares to take up the baton in a new season which includes a few firsts even for him. ‡ CAPE CRUSADERS In its 21st season, Cape Town Opera comes of age ‰ BIRGIT NILSSON Celebrating Birgit Nilsson Days, streamed live from the Swedish diva’s birthplace ‰ GREEK REVOLUTION The role of art, music and opera in the birth of the modern Greek‡state

N I

C O L A

R O S S

‰ IN PROFILE ENO’s new boss Annilese Miskimmon sets out her post-pandemic vision for the company

www.operanow.co.uk

26

38

52

‡ DANCE STEPS The Buxton International Festival gives the first professional production of Arnold’s 1950s comic opera, The Dancing Master ARIADNE ONLINE English Touring Opera’s online season features a poignant take on one of opera’s most ancient tales COST EFFECTIVE Why does cost so much to stage? Ambra Sorrentino of Opera CoPro explains

OperaNow July/August 2021 3