Un Ballo in Maschera
by Giuseppe Verdi Opernhaus Zürich
Cast: Charles Castronovo / George Petean / Erika Grimaldi / Agnieszka Rehlis / Katharina Konradi / Steffan Lloyd Owen / Brent Michael Smith / Stanislav Vorobyov / Martin Zysset / Álvaro Diana Sanchez
Dancers: Jessica Falceri / Noa Joanna Ryff / Sara Peña / Sara Pennella / Chiara Viscido / Cristian Alex Assis / Pietro Cono Genova / Davide Pillera / Daniele Romano / Roberto Tallarigo
Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda / Set and Costume Designer: Hannah Clark / Lighting Designer: Franck Evin / Video Designer: Tieni Burkhalter / Choreographer: Emma Woods / Staff Director: Steven Whiting / Photographer: Herwig Prammer
The entire new production of Verdi's masterful opera Un Ballo In Maschera, directed by Adele Thomas at the Zurich Opera House, is of outstanding greatness
Opera Aktuel
The constantly turning wheel (of fate) thus becomes a coherent symbol for the unstoppable course of the tragic plot.
Bachtrack ****
This premiere of Un Ballo in Maschera was an opera performance at a high level, in which the production brought excellent singers to the fore.
Opera Gazet
An intelligent, enjoyable stage production
Operawire
The perfect balance between comedy and tragedy [...] First rate
Forum Opera ****
Precisely because the director merely makes offers (...) it appears more subversive under its supposedly faithful surface than any superficial updating
NZZ
Rigoletto
by Giuseppe Verdi
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Cast: Daniel Luis de Vicente / Soraya Mafi / Raffaele Abete / Alyona Abramova / Nathanaël Tavernier / Paul Carey Jones / Zwakele Tshabalala / Martin Lloyd / Eiry Price / Alastair Moore / Sian Meinir / Francesca Saracino / Julian Boyce
Ensemble: Matthew Lloyd / Dafydd Weeks / Gerald Tyler / Edward Kirby / Tom O’Gorman / Meredith Lewis
Conductor: Pietro Rizzo / Set and Costume Designer: Annemarie Woods / Lighting Designer: Guy Hoare / Movement Director: Emma Woods / Fight Director: Kate Waters / Intimacy Director: Kev McCurdy / Photographer: Richard Hubert Smith
The Times★★★★ The Stage ★★★★
The Telegraph ★★★★ Morning Star ★★★★
The Telegraph ★★★★ Morning Star ★★★★
Buzz ★★★★ Reviewshub ★★★★★
Bachtrack ★★★★ Reviewgate ★★★★
Bachtrack ★★★★ Reviewgate ★★★★
Maybe only when one encounters an exceptional staging, with musical standards to match, does it really hit home with its full power. That’s the case with Welsh National Opera’s new production by Adele Thomas, who makes her directorial debut with the company that she will co-lead from January next year.
The Stage****
Bold theatre and punchy singing from WNO
The Times ****
A powerful and disturbing battle cry
The Telegraph ★★★★
The Times ****
A powerful and disturbing battle cry
The Telegraph ★★★★
A five-star winner for WNO
Theatre Reviews North ★★★★★
A magnificent new Rigoletto with superb singing
The Article
Theatre Reviews North ★★★★★
A magnificent new Rigoletto with superb singing
The Article
A stunning production of Verdi’s masterpiece about betrayal and revenge.
Morning Star ****
Verdi’s dark masterpiece shines with stellar performances at WNO
Buzz ****
This production is a showcase for the strengths that WNO has long come to represent. Not only do audiences get to enjoy world-class soloists, but the production also highlights the outstanding musical contributions of the chorus and orchestra. They are the beating heart of the company and must be protected at all costs.
Reviews Hub *****
Et Voila!!
Opera Scenes
National Opera Studio + Welsh National Opera
National Opera Studio + Welsh National Opera
Scenes from Die Lustige Witwe by Franz Lehár/ Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss/ Rita by Gaetano Donizetti / Cendrillon by Pauline Viardot/ Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti/ La Princesse de Trébizonde by Jacques Offenbach/ Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas/ Manon by Jules Massenet/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten/ La Fille du Régiment by Gaetano Donizetti
Cast: Nikolina Hrkać / Robert Forrest / Rosalind Dobson / Georgia Mae Ellis / Heming Li / Smelo Mahlangu / Rhydian Jenkins / Sofia Kirwan-Baez / Camilla Seale / Aleksander Kaczuk-Jagielnik / Kira Kaplan / Jonathan Eyers
Répétiteurs: Jacob Swindells / Johanna Kvam / Blanca Graciá Rodríguez
Conductor: Karen Kamensek / Lighting Designer: Owain Davies / Stage Manager: Elizabeth Barry / Assistant Director: Christian Hey / Photographer: Kirsten McTernan
Semele
by George Frideric Handel
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne
Cast: Joelle Harvey / Stuart Jackson / Stephanie Wake-Edwards / Jennifer Johnston / Aryeh / Nussbaum Cohen / Samuel Mariño / Clive Bayley
Dancers: Robin Gladwin / Harriet Waghorn / Jonathan Mewett / Jack Richardson
Conductor: Václav Luks / Choreographer: Emma Woods / Set Designer: Annemarie Woods / Costume Designer: Hannah Clark / Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford + Rick Fisher
Photographer: Richard Hubert Smith
★★★★ This, though, is a consistent and thoughtful interpretation of a gloriously eclectic piece
The Arts Desk
Remarkable
Opera
The Arts Desk
Remarkable
Opera
★★★★ a fresh angle on the incendiary story
Evening Standard
★★★★ Adele Thomas’ new production fo Glyndebourne makes a good case for its operatic credentials.
Bachtrack
Evening Standard
★★★★ Adele Thomas’ new production fo Glyndebourne makes a good case for its operatic credentials.
Bachtrack
Thunder roars. Lightning flashes. And its bright bursts reveal two entangled bodies on stage, then a lone naked woman undulating on the floor and a stony figure who watches from afar. In this beginning lies the end. Sex and revenge are intertwined. It makes for a visually striking start to Adele Thomas’s new production of Handel’s Semele, setting the tone for a show that’s confident, smart and endlessly entertaining.
The Times ★★★★
Il Trovatore (London)
Cast: Jamie Barton / Marina Rebeka / Riccardo Massi / Ludovic Tezier / Roberto Tagliavini / Gabrielė Kupšytė / Michael Gibson
Dance Ensemble: Michael Larcombe / Dak Mashava / Gareth Mole / Sean Moss/ Daniel Perry / Yasset Roldan
Conductor: Antonio Pappano / Designer: Annemarie Woods / Lighting Designer: Franck Evin
The Guardian ★★★★★
The Times ★★★★
The Times ★★★★
The Observer ★★★★
The Independent ★★★★
The Independent ★★★★
Broadway World ★★★★
The Stage ★★★★
The Stage ★★★★
Culture Whisper ★★★★
The Express ★★★★
The Express ★★★★
No, there’s not a lot of reason in this Trovatore, but its storytellers Thomas and Pappano are both razor-sharp.
The Guardian *****
Director Adele Thomas has deftly lassoed the work’s wildness into a new coherence and invited us into a parallel world of storytelling […] The approach is fresh, highly professional and nothing like any other Trovatore you might have encountered.
The Observer ★★★★
Thomas’ finely tuned artistic vision balances the paradoxes of desire effortlessly so that both sides can blossom with full blooded feeling.
Broadway World ★★★★
The Observer ★★★★
Thomas’ finely tuned artistic vision balances the paradoxes of desire effortlessly so that both sides can blossom with full blooded feeling.
Broadway World ★★★★
The dreamlike flow of the narrative is heightened, and in stressing the force of the irrational and the chaotic Thomas articulates the plight of the characters rather skilfully.
The Times ★★★★
Adele Thomas throws myth, mysticism and some marvellously devilish costumes into the mix to make the whole thing look like something from the works of Hieronymous Bosch, which is strangely appropriate in bringing out the glory and power of Verdi's music.
The Express ★★★★
The Times ★★★★
Adele Thomas throws myth, mysticism and some marvellously devilish costumes into the mix to make the whole thing look like something from the works of Hieronymous Bosch, which is strangely appropriate in bringing out the glory and power of Verdi's music.
The Express ★★★★
Whenever a forthcoming production features the name of theatre, music theatre and opera director Adele Thomas audiences know that that something interesting, or, even, at best, brilliant, is in store.
Culture Whisper
fast moving, visually sumptuous, and at times refreshingly irreverent. […] Thomas’s take won’t please the conventionally minded, and it may not sit well with the purist, but this is one of the most interesting productions of the year.
Limelight
