Tamerlano

this is london“An underpowered Tamerlano...” Even for the devoted Handelians among us it comes to seem a very long evening. One suspects, however, that even Domingo would have been hard put to inject life into this catatonic staging...

The Times“At least there’s something to enjoy in the pit...” Graham Vick’s production, which has knocked round the Continent for years, is innocuous. The high point is the entry of a blue elephant...

The Independent“Strangely occluded and colourless...” Without doubt the evening’s most special singing came from Sara Mingardo as Andronico, her cultured soft-grained contralto and wholehearted connection with text possessed of an intimacy...

Whatsonstage.com“A welcome visit from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment...” Plácido Domingo in his absence there’s a gaping hole. How much Graham Vick’s production was built around Domingo is difficult to say but it’s a dull affair without him...

The Stage“It’s not enough to save the show...” Graham Vick’s staging, first seen in Florence in 2001, is flippant, fussy and lacking in focus. Ivor Bolton’s conducting is correct but dutiful. Tamerlano is one of Handel’s greatest operas, but it feels a very long, slow evening here...

The Telegraph“I can’t imagine it presented better...” Alas, I can only candidly tell you that I found all of its 215 sparse, bare, dark minutes a stupendous crucifying bore, redeemed only by a rise in the temperature half way through Act III...

MusicOMH“This opera is austere and astringent...” Clearly the high-camp humour that has served so many other Handel hits in recent years would be inappropriate here. While this glacial approach is in one sense refreshing it also deprives the characters of their human dimension...

Guardian“Deeply questionable...” The piece itself is not an easy one. A long work composed of mostly slow arias, it examines the psychological violence attendant on absolute power, though nowadays it also strikes us as suspect...

Financial Times“Not yet reviewed”

Time Out“Not yet reviewed”