Orpheus In The Underworld - English National Opera

English National Opera - A National Treasure

Advantages: Accessible staging, good balance in programming, great education programmes
Disadvantages: Singing is not always consistently amazing

As an aspiring opera singer (currently working in admin - oh, the glamour! - but hoping to go back to college in the near future), I try to attend as much live opera as I can. Living in London is great for this - we are spoilt with 2 international level opera houses, as well as numerous touring companies and high standard amateur productions. English National Opera is generally seen as the Royal Opera House's more accessible sibling - slightly cooler, slightly more modern. All productions are staged in English and the singing is generally of a very high standard. English National Opera's home is the Coliseum on St Martin's Lane, just off Trafalgar Square, so easily accessible from Charing Cross Station (Mainline or underground) or bus routes 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 29, 53, 77a, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176, or if you're travelling by ...

bubblegum_princess 02.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of English National Opera

Let Europa grab you by the horn

Advantages: Gaily jolly, irreverent, humorous, bawdy, tuneful. A masterful reworking of the primary opus of the master of French comic opera. If you enjoy Gilbert and Sullivan track this one down ? I can guarantee you a surprisingly wonderful musical experience.
Disadvantages: None

liked to be known as both the English Bach and the English Offenbach (covering both branches of ?high? Classical and light ?Classical? music). This two disc boxed set of ?Orpheus In The Underworld? is the first non-G&S work to have been recorded by the D?Oyly Carte Opera Company. It is therefore a most appropriate work for the Company to cover in this manner. The original project was a collaboration between the Company and Opera North to produce a new working of the original two act version of Offenbach?s opera both for a national tour and this subsequent album. It also spurred the development of D?Oyly Carte?s repertoire beyond the mainstream G&S. The orchestration and playing is sparkling. The soloists and chorus are very clear in their diction. This translation also captures much of the humour and witticism of the original. This ...

Newfloridian 08.05.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld

Operatic Orpheus

Advantages: Original instruments, classical greek myth
Disadvantages: Serious and tragic

Two CD set: Orpheus and Euridice Awarded the Gramophone award in 2002, Orpheus and Euridice is a recording of Hadyn's last opera. It is an opera seria relating the tragic Greek myth. The opera was never performed in Haydn'd lifetime. The myth in a nutshell goes as follows. Eurydice, a nymph, is in despair as she contemplates her forthcoming marriage to Arideus. She is ready to die, but Orpheus saves her life by playing his harp and singing. Eurydice?s father, Creon, agrees to let her to marry Orpheus. When Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies, Orpheus is inconsolable. He consults the Sibyl, who takes him to the underworld to search for her. Pluto allows Orpheus to search for Eurydice in the Elysian fields, but Orpheus is warned not to look at his wife. He cannot resist glancing at her, and loses her for a second time. As he ...

MAFARRIMOND 02.05.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Orpheus and Euridice - Haydn