Adelson e Salvini. Adelson e Salvini is one of those opera titles that even many Bellini lovers discover late or not at all; understandable, because it is an opera that balances between “promising” and “unfinished.”
Month: January 2026
Adelson e Salvini. Adelson e Salvini is een van die operatitels die zelfs veel Bellini-liefhebbers pas laat of helemaal niet ontdekken; begrijpelijk want het is een opera die balanceert tussen “veelbelovend” en “onaf”.
The Secret Opera Lover. He nods approvingly when the terms “deconstruction,” “reinterpretation” and “actualization” are mentioned. And when wine is drunk in the foyer afterwards, he always has a phrase ready that anchors him safely in the troupe: “This is 2025, not 1850.” But deep inside – beneath the layer of socially desirable modernity – lurks a carefully kept secret. Homesickness. A gentle but insistent longing for something that is considered highly suspect in opera circles of contemporary people: opera that is true to the libretto and the episode.
Madama Butterfly in Sydney. Oxenbould’s stylish single-set production is a reliable workhorse with no surprises, pulling all the right strings and ticking all the right boxes. Its balletic, “movement”-heavy approach to blocking frequently smacks of filling the moment for the sake of it, but if its ubiquity in the company’s rotation is anything to go by, such easily repeatable elements can compensate for a dramatic cohesion that often goes by the wayside when time (a.k.a.: money) and box office are of the essence.
The secret opera connoisseur. Das Syndikat sagt NEIN! ( The Syndicate says NO! )