by Neal | 8 May 2011 | Theatre
A title which does not particularly seem that cheerful! Well ironically there is a sort of happy ending! The opera, the last by Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) hangs loosely around a political prisoner Goryanshikov being sent to a Siberian prison in which the rest of the...
by Neal | 17 Apr 2011 | Music, Theatre
Well, I’ve been waiting nearly 20 years for this! When studying my A Level music we delved deeply into Ludwig Van Beethoven’s symphonies, and thus started a great appreciation of his music and I’ve listened to much of his work since then. However, his only opera,...
by Neal | 3 Feb 2011 | Theatre
Last night we had the privilege of being at the British premiere of The Portrait by Weinberg. It was written in 1980, but Weinberg has been forgotten very quickly with the political turmoil of the Soviet Union in the Eighties going into the Nineties. The Portrait is...
by Neal | 23 Jan 2011 | Theatre
Not quite sure where to start with this review!! We knew in advance that this very popular and well known opera had been given a bit of a twist by director Daniel Kramer, and turning Seville, Spain in the 19th century to Seville, USA in 1950/60s was on the cards. He...
by Neal | 22 Jan 2011 | Theatre
On Wednesday evening we went to Cineworld in Castleford to watch the well reviewed The King’s Speech. Sometimes when a film is in the media a lot it turns out to be quite a disappointment. This though is not! The cinema was sold out and afterwards there were...
by Neal | 23 May 2010 | Music, Theatre
A cracking evening at the opera (and also very warm!) Didn’t really know much about Rusalka before going to see it, apart from the famous Song to the Moon. Had listened to the Renee Fleming version...