In a stuffy provincial town, a passionate and idealistic poet accompanies a dutiful young lady to a ball. He falls madly in love with her - but she is already engaged to another. Bergen National Opera presents Massenet’s great opera in a new production directed and designed by Antony McDonald. The Lithuanian tenor Edgaras Montvidas sings the title role - regarded as one of the most poetic and expressive in the French repertoire - alongside Cardiff Singer of the World 2017 competition winner Catriona Morison as Charlotte.
A rare opportunity to see Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work – opera from the age of Hitchcock, with an atmospheric score and tense, psychological twists. Abandoned by her lover Anatol, Vanessa retreats from the world, waiting and hoping with only her mother and her niece Erika for company. But when, 20 years later, Anatol’s handsome young son arrives unexpectedly, he shatters the calm of this shuttered household of women. Past and present love collides, and the aftershocks threaten to destroy them all.
In a poet's feverish imagination, the staging of Don Giovanni sets him off on a frenzied journey into nightmarish worlds. Can Mozart himself offer him salvation as he loses himself in his fearful dreams? Barrie Kosky tells Offenbach's fantastic story as a disturbing nightmare of an artist who increasingly loses his sense of identity. As we dive into the obsessions of a deranged mind, the title role itself is shared by three performers - including an actor - while a single soprano embodies all four female lead roles.
The arias of La traviata are instantly recognisable. Yet at its London premiere in 1856, it was denounced for bringing 'the poetry of the brothel' to the stage and unleashing uncomfortable truths on Victorian society.