Josephine Barstow
DAME JOSEPHINE BARSTOW interviewed by AMANDA HOLDEN Josephine Barstow is home again. The Yorkshire-born soprano who has sung and acted her way around the world’s leading opera houses is back …
Bliss
AH programme note for the BLISS world premiere programme An invitation to write the libretto for a new opera is a rare thing; planning and executing a new piece is …
Rossini’s early operas
L’occasione fa il maestro – Rossini’s early operas. If a composer ever sprang fully-armed from music college it was Rossini. His first opera was written before 1809, and between leaving …
Translating Falstaff
Translating Falstaff On a snowy night in February 1987 I went to see Graham Vick’s Birmingham opera company performing La bohème (in English) at the Derngate Theatre in Northampton. There …
Mozart’s first Munich opera
MOZART’S FIRST MUNICH OPERA Between 1780 and 1791 Mozart wrote six superlative operatic works: (Idomeneo, The Seraglio, Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così and The Magic Flute). That much is indisputable, but …
A librettist’s view
A librettist’s view Amanda Holden on working with Turnage Opera, February 2000, pp.175-9 When I first met Mark-Anthony Turnage in November 1993, I had been aware of him and …
The one I’ve always wanted
The one I’ve always wanted Amanda Holden on compiling The Viking Opera Guide, Opera, October 1993, pp1172-6 The Viking Opera Guide will be published on 28th October. Yes, another Opera …
Opera in the Garden of Eden
OPERA IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN Opera, May 2006, pp.540-4 With the summer approaching, what do the words Garden Opera mean to you? An expensive evening at the opera, …
Translating Opera
Translating Opera by Amanda Holden from COLISEUM the magazine of English National Opera Issue/18, spring/summer 2003 Translating a text for performance in the theatre is like doing a vast …
Egon Wellesz
Viennese School – Amanda Holden remembers Egon Wellesz Opera, Festivals 2003, pp.50-3 The concert performance of Egon Wellesz’s opera Die Bakchantinnen – The Bacchae – at this year’s Salzburg Festival …