Powder Her Face | Opera review

Linbury Studio, LondonPowder Her Face, Thomas Adès's study of the sexual career of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, propelled its composer to international attention in 1995 and remains the most frequently performed British opera of the last two decades. Notoriety clings to it, largely thanks to a scene in which the Duchess fellates a waiter. Adès's point is that contemporary reaction to the Duchess's exploits marked the start of modern cults of celebrity; the voyeuristic complicity of audienc...

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