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Thrilling Singing
A Sibelius and Rimsky-Korsakov double bill,
experienced by MIKE WHEELER
Sibelius completed only one opera, a half-hour one-acter; Rimsky-Korsakov focused increasingly on the genre during his career and eventually notched up some fifteen or so. But the operatic novice can easily hold his head up in the company of the older, more experienced hand.
Both The Maiden in the Tower (here receiving its UK premiere) and Kashchei the Immortal feature unjustly imprisoned girls, wicked captors, attempts at rescue by heroic lovers and transitions from winter to spring -- an open invitation for Stephen Lawless's production to plot a single course through both, using the same cast and the same basic set (Buxton Festival, Buxton Opera House, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK, 9 July 2012).
The Maiden in the Tower is moved from its original mediaeval setting to the 1890s of the opera's composition...
Copyright © 14 July 2012
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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