Ariadne auf Naxos - review

Millennium Centre, CardiffOperatic plots can be confusing at the best of times. In the case of Ariadne auf Naxos, in which two separate contrasting performances – an opera seria and commedia dell'arte – are forced to combine, Richard Strauss was surely courting disaster. The achievement of Neil Armfield's production for Welsh National Opera, first seen in 2004, is to define the characterisation (wonderfully exaggerated cameos, infinite tenderness) with such perception that the narrative is a...

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