John Savournin News
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2024-04-25
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2023-10-06 11:51:00
The flower fairies are back: Cal McCrystal's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe for ENO fills the London Coliseum with colour, movement & comedy
Gilbert & Sullivan: Iolanthe - English National Opera (Photo: Craig Fuller)Gilbert & Sullivan: Iolanthe; Samantha Price, John Savournin, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Elli Laugharne, Marcus Farnsworth, Keel Watson, director Cal McCrystal, conductor Chris Hopkins; English National Opera at the London ColiseumReviewed 5 October 2023A sparkling revival of Cal McCrystal's first G&S at ENO proves engaging fun with strong musical performances, physical comedy and a sense of the sheer absurdity of the world Gilbert createdThe flower fairies flitted back to the London Coliseum as Cal McCrystal's 2018 production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe for English National Opera returned with many of the original cast (seen 5 October 2023). Chris Hopkins conducted with Samantha Price as Iolanthe, John Savournin as the Lord Chancellor, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as the Queen of the Fairies, Ellie Laugharne as Phyllis, Marcus Farnsworth as Strephon, Ruairi Bowen as Earl Tolloller, Ben McAteer as the Earl of Mountararat, Llio Evans as Celia, Bethan […]
2023-09-22 06:31:00
A terrific sense of relish: Charles Court Opera's new version of The Mikado delights at the Arcola Theatre
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado - Charles Court Opera (Photo: Bill Knight)Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado; Matthew Palmer, Robin Bailey, Matthew Kellett, Matthew Siveter, Alys Roberts, Meriel Cunningham, Jennifer Clark, Amy J Payne, director: John Savournin, musical director: David Eaton; Charles Court Opera at the Arcola TheatreReviewed 20 September 2023Gilbert & Sullivan's classic delivered with consummate skill and artistry, great pacing and a terrific sense of relish, in a new setting bringing out the innate Englishness of the workFor an operetta, The Mikado is quite a complex, multi-layered piece and part of the work's endurance comes from the fact that all the pieces fit. There is no sense, as there can be with The Gondoliers, of two different works playing simultaneously. At the core of The Mikado is Gilbert's usual topsy-turvey-dom, here a condemned criminal placed as Lord High Executioner to foil the the Mikado's cruel edict, and the Mikado's son […]
2022-08-09 08:27:00
Reviews of the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company at Buxton
[…] patter song. RNCM-trained Aidan Edwards was an extremely strong and clear Samuel, and the three lead daughters, Catrine Kirkman, Kate Lowe and Alexandra Hazard, vamped things up delightfully. And for Frederic and Mabel we had two classy singers: David Webb’s tenor never less than noble and Emily Vine’s soprano hitting the high notes with panache. IolantheIolanthe was the first of this year’s shows performed by the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival at Buxton and in John Savournin’s production very much follows the formula of tradition-with-tweaks. Nothing to frighten the horses or the purists (no re-wording of “Oh, Captain Shaw …”, for instance), despite the fact that of all the G&S canon its references today seem furthest removed from the present-day world: we don’t even have a proper Lord Chancellor now, and our House of Lords is far from being made of blue-bloods alone. But a visit to the festival at Buxton […]
2022-07-21 06:27:00
The Dragon of Wantley: a fine Handelian cast have terrific fun with Lampe's parody of opera seria
John Frederick Lampe: The Dragon of Wantley - Mary Bevan, Catherine Carby, Mark Wilde, John Savournin, The Brook Street Band, John Andrews; RESONUS CLASSICS20 July 2022 (★★★★½)Lampe's delightfully satirical opera combines a crazy English plot with fine Italianate music, performed here with great style to superb effect.Following the success of The Beggars Opera in the early 1730s, there was a renewed interest in the idea of English opera. Few significant works came out of this, but one that had a major success was somewhat in the same vein as The Beggars Opera. John Frederick Lampe's The Dragon of Wantley takes a satirical view of opera by combining a tale that is pure earth English fun and setting it to fine music. This combination of wit and pastiche worked well, and the work was popular. Though since the early 19th century it has rather languished and is certainly not as well known as it should […]
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