Laurel Hurley News
American soprano
- soprano
- opera singer
Last update
2024-04-24
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2024-02-02 10:19:00
As chilling and emotional as ever: Kate Lindsey returns as Offred in ENO's strong revival of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale
Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Kate Lindsey, John Findon (film) - English National Opera 2024 (Photo: Zoe Martin)Poul Ruders & Paul Bentley: The Handmaid's Tale; Kate Lindsey, Juliet Stevenson, Rachel Nicholls, Nadine Benjamin, Rhian Lois, Avery Amereau, James Creswell, Madeleine Shaw, Zwakele Tshabalala, Eleanor Dennis, director Annilese Miskimmon/James Hurley, conductor Joana Carneiro; English National Opera at the London ColiseumReviewed 1 February 2024As chilling as ever; Kate Lindsey's emotional rollercoaster performance as Offred anchors a strong revival of Poul Ruders' operaEnglish National Opera's 2022 production of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale [see my original review] was cut short due to COVID-related problems so that it is good news that Annilese Miskimmon's production returned to the London Coliseum on 1 February 2024 (revived by James Hurley) for five performances with Kate Lindsey returning to the role of Offred and Joana Carneiro back in the pit. Juliet Stevenson was Professor Pieixoto, John Findon was […]
2023-12-16 09:42:00
A sense of dramatic narrative: Wild Arts in Handel's Messiah at The Art Workers' Guild
[…] Wild Arts at The Art Workers' Guild (Photo: Lucy Toms Photography)Wild Arts is a young organisation with a long history. The charity was founded in 2022, with Orlando Jopling as artistic director, but builds on the organisation that has presented the Roman River Festival in and around Colchester since 2000. Essex is Wild Arts' prime focus, with a Summer Opera Festival at Layer Marney Tower. The 2024 production is Mozart's The Magic Flute, directed by James Hurley, after the June performances at Layer Marney the company takes it on tour (ten dates already confirmed).The company is also developing a strong education focus, with the education programme led by Rebecca Milford. For 2022/23, they worked with primary schools in Essex, presenting workshops, lessons and masterclasses leading to 300 primary school pupils attending the dress rehearsal of The Elixir of Love in Essex. And not just attending, they all had learned at least one […]
2023-10-27 13:19:34
Grand theatre, LeedsSet in the 1920s, James Hurley’s staging – the third of the company’s Green Season – is blessed with perfectly mismatched lovers. Under conductor Kerem Hasan the score sighs and swoonsPuccini’s La Rondine (the swallow) is, true to its title, a curious bird: not quite operetta and not quite grand opera, with few of the instantly excerptable set pieces of his more famous creations. The plot is a hybrid too: a cousin to La Traviata but minus its redemptive third act, and with a servant subplot redolent of Die Fledermaus.Veering between comedy and tragedy, it culminates in one of the composer’s uneasiest endings, when the courtesan Magda is denied not just a happy ending but also the more familiar Puccinian option of a cathartic death. Determined that her own past will bring ruin to her unworldly lover Ruggero, she leaves him bereft – returning miserably to the gilded cage […]
2023-10-21 11:15:00
What's not to love? Glamour and heart as Puccini's little swallow returns to Opera North
Puccini: La Rondine - Sébastien Guèze, Galina Averina - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)Puccini: La Rondine; Galina Averina, Sébastien Guèze, Claire Lees, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, Philip Smith, director: James Hurley, conductor: Kerem Hasan; Opera North at Grand Theatre, LeedsReviewed 20 October 2023Glorious melodies sung by a youthful cast, 1930s glamour in a production proud of its green credentials, and a story both touching and engaginThe problem with Puccini's La Rondine, if problem there is, is that no-one dies; it is Puccini's only major opera where a significant death does not occur. La Rondine ends with a love triangle where, very even handedly, no-one really gets what they want. The opera was an experiment, coming at a time when Puccini was trying to move his art in other directions. After Madama Butterfly in 1904 came two operas where Puccini changed tack, La Fanciulla del West in 1910 and La Rondine in 1917. […]
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