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La bohème, Opera North review - still young at 32
Love and separation, ecstasy and heartbreak, in masterfully updated PucciniPhyllida Lloyd’s production of La Bohème for Opera North is over 32 years old but still feels young. And for its audiences it...
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Frankenstein review - the Prometheus of the charnel house
★★★ FRANKENSTEIN Guillermo del Toro is fitfully inspired, but often lost in long-held ambitionsGuillermo del Toro is fitfully inspired, but often lost in long-held ambitionsGuillermo del Toro strains...
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Lapwood, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - journeys into space
Star of the console takes us on a cosmic dance , while Elgar brings us back to earthKahchun Wong’s second Bridgewater Hall concert of the new season was partly an introduction to the Hallé’s...
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Kohout, Spence, Braun, Manchester Camerata, Huth, RNCM, Manchester review -...
Celebration of the past with stars of the future at the Royal Northern CollegeThe Royal Northern College of Music was in celebratory mood last night for the opening of its new season, in a joint...
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Hadelich, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review -...
Prokofiev in the hands of a fine violinist has surely never sounded better Concerts need to have themes, it seems, today, and the BBC Philharmonic’s publicity suggested two contrasting ideas for the...
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theartsdesk at the Lahti Sibelius Festival - early epics by the Finnish...
★★★★★ LAHTI SIBELIUS FESTIVAL Early epics by the Finnish master in contextFinnish heroes meet their Austro-German counterparts in breathtaking interpretationsIt’s weird, if wonderful, that vibrant...
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The Count of Monte Cristo, U&Drama review - silly telly for the silly season
Umpteenth incarnation of the Alexandre Dumas novel is no better than it should beAlexandre Dumas’ novel has been filmed an immeasurable number of times (there was a new French version only last year)...
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That Bastard, Puccini!, Park Theatre review - inventive comic staging of the...
★★★★ THAT BASTARD, PUCCINI!, PARK THEATRE James Inverne enjoyably reconstructs the rivalry between Puccini and LeoncavalloJames Inverne enjoyably reconstructs the rivalry between Puccini and...
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Hamlet, Buxton International Festival review - how to re-imagine re-imagined...
★★★★ HAMLET, BUXTON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Re-imagining re-imagined ShakespeareMusic comes first in very 19th century, very Romantic, very French operatic creationAmbroise Thomas’s version of Hamlet is...
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Kiefer / Van Gogh, Royal Academy review - a pairing of opposites
Small scale intensity meets large scale melodrama When he was a callow youth of 18, German artist Anselm Keifer got a travel grant to follow in the footsteps of his idol, Vincent van Gogh. Some sixty...
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Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse review - stirring story of Black survival...
An early Lynn Nottage work gets a superb cast and productionThe corset is an unlikely star of the latest Lynn Nottage play to arrive at the Donmar Warehouse, 2003’s Intimate Apparel. After the more...
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RNCM International Diploma Artists, BBC Philharmonic, MediaCity, Salford...
Cream of the graduate crop from Manchester's Music College show what they can doTwo concerts in the BBC Philharmonic’s series in their own studio form the climax of studies at the Royal Northern...
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Dandy, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a...
A powerful experience endorses Storgårds’ continued relationship with the orchestraThe opening and closing concerts of a season tend to be statements of intent – to pursue a path of exploration or...
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La Straniera, Chelsea Opera Group, Barlow, Cadogan Hall review - diva power...
★★★ LA STRANIERA, CHELSEA OPERA GROUP, BARLOW, CADOGAN HALL Diva power saves minor BelliniAustralian soprano Helena Dix is honoured by fine fellow singers, but not her conductorChelsea Opera Group has...
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The Queen of Spades, Garsington Opera review - sonorous gliding over a heart...
★★★ THE QUEEN OF SPADES, GARSINGTON OPERA Sonorous gliding over a heart of darknessStriking design and clear concept, but the intensity within comes and goesRecent events have prompted the assertion –...
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Owen, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Manchester review -...
Another breath of fresh air in the chamber orchestra’s approach to the classicsManchester Camerata spent eight years performing and recording a complete edition of Mozart’s piano concertos with...
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Parsifal, Glyndebourne review - the music flies up, the drama remains below
★★★★ PARSIFAL, GLYNDEBOURNE The music flies up, the drama remains belowIncandescent singing and playing, but the production domesticates the numinousThere’s a grail, but it doesn't glow in a mundane if...
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Simon Boccanegra, Opera North review - ‘dramatic staging’ proves its worth
★★★★★ SIMON BOCCANEGRA, OPERA NORTH 'Dramatic staging' proves its worthVerdi’s political tragedy - and plea for peace - has impact in a grand Yorkshire settingOpera North have recently pioneered a way...
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The Ugly Stepsister review - gleeful Grimm revamp
★★★ THE UGLY STEPSISTER Gleeful Grimm revampA cutting Norwegian take on Cinderella and her adversariesAlthough both of the Brothers Grimm died around 1860, they still insist on getting dozens of film...
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The Importance of Being Oscar, Jermyn Street Theatre review - Wilde, still...
★★★★ THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR, JERMYN STREET THEATRE One man play from 1960 given a compelling revivalAlastair Whatley honours his subject in a quietly powerful performanceIt’s a greater accolade...
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