Niobe, Regina di Tebe; Faust; The Makropulos Case; Fidelio | Classical review
Royal Opera House, London; Coliseum, London; Welsh National Opera, CardiffLike Niobe, all tears. Hamlet managed to say in four words what Agostino Steffani took four hours to expound. Niobe was Queen of Thebes, as related in Ovid, whose children die as the gods' punishment for her shameful boasting, while she turns to stone. Fair enough. Steffani was an Italian composer of whom none but dedicated baroque specialists had consciously heard until the Royal Opera House made his 1688 opera Niobe, Reg...
Guardian Music — Royal Opera House, London"All tears" is how Shakespeare famously described Niobe, the mythic queen of Thebes, whose pride was punished by the gods with the death of her c... more info
Guardian Music — Royal Opera House, London; Coliseum, London; Welsh National Opera, CardiffLike Niobe, all tears. Hamlet managed to say in four words what Agostino Steffani took four hour... more info