Barnaby Rea News

Puccini’s masterpiece La bohème combines friendship, passion and tragedy to create one of the world’s most popular operas. Having been staged so many times, there is an understandable temptation to alter the setting, but does it work or is it change for change's sake?

Photos have been released of the new production of Puccini's La bohème by Opera Holland Park with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa and the City of London Sinfonia and the Opera Holland Park Chorus.

Starting a theatre company is no easy feat, but for a theatre to be around for 50 years is something worth celebrating. You can celebrate 50 years with Des Moines Metro Opera this summer, which just opened up its 50th season with two spectacular productions. The season opened up a sold-out run of The Gershwin's 'Porgy and Bess' with Simon Estes in his farewell performance. I've heard excellent things about the production. The opera continued its opening weekend with 'The Voice' finalist John Holiday in Benjamin Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' based on the Shakespeare play by the same name.

Des Moines Metro Opera's General and Artistic Director Michael Egel announced today the repertory for the company's 50th Anniversary Season alongside the launch of the public phase of a $15 million fundraising campaign, 50 Next: Giving Voice to the Future.

Manon Lescaut, sponsored by Viking Cruises, opens the season with the British lyric soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn in the title role. Named 'Best newcomer in opera' by The Telegraph in 2010 following her operatic debut as Mimi in La boheme at English National Opera, Llewellyn has gone from strength to strength on the international stage. She was last at OHP in 2017, as Magda in La rondine. The Welsh bass-baritone Paul Carey Jones makes his OHP debut as Lescaut. His recent career highlights include his Royal Opera House debut in The Nose and the Scottish premiere of Philip Glass's The Trial with Scottish Opera.

The BBC Proms announce the full cast for the concert performance of Bernstein's On the Town

A memorial performance of Verdi's Requiem will take place at Investec Opera Holland Park (OHP) on Tuesday 1 August 2017, to support those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. All proceeds will go to the Rugby Portobello Trust (RPT), which has been working closely with victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and with which OHP has a long association. Tickets are on sale from today, priced at £35, £25 and £20. They can be purchased online or by telephone and donations can also be made online.

The return of Jonathan Miller's brilliant Mafioso take on Verdi's Rigoletto is incredibly welcome after the awkward and confusing version that last appeared at the ENO in 2014. The original production directed by Miller premiered back in 1982, but still feels as sharp and slick as ever.