The Royal Opera – operaexplorer

Becoming and being Norma. “Norma” by Vincenzo Bellini, The Royal Opera, September 16, 2016

The opening of the new season in my opera calendar was marked by a trip to London, and I had high expectations for the new production of Norma, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano and performed by star duo of Sonya Yoncheva and Joseph Calleja. The expectations were overachieved both by brilliant musical interpretation as well as […]

Italian flavour for suffering Werther. Werther, Massenet, The Royal Opera. June 24th, 2016

This has been one of experiences when comign out of performance I feel more confused rather than taken by performance, and it has been quite a while since I got my opinion on this particular performance together. There were quite inflated expectations towards the cast, Charlotte to be sung by Joyce DiDonato, whom I adore, […]

Double take of Nabucco over a weekend. Verdi, Nabucco, Royal Opera House.

This has been a decision questioned by everyone I know: what could be a reason to attend two consequtive performances of “Nabucco” over one weekend? Love for Verdi masterpiece? Learning by heart any of lead roles? Or absolute obsession to gather as much as possible over short time span? Probably each of those might have […]