Opera
Domesticating Wagner
A new production of Die Walküre is at odds with its music
The Merry Widow’s peak operetta
Who should we blame for art admired by monsters?
Family matters
Jephtha, Il Pomo d’Oro, Barbican
Desert love songs
Giulio Cesare, The English Concert, Barbican
Dogme drama Festen adapted for stage
How gratuitous would everyone would have found this if the film had never existed?
Bane sailing
There’s got to be some sort of price to pay for being so fabulous
On “Festen” and forgetting
The latest production of the Royal Opera was gripping but occasionally unconvincing
This earthy opera is a real sob story
I have seen seven different productions of Jenůfa and I never fail to be overcome
Can arias ever be the reel deal?
Most film adaptations have been pale imitations weighed down with charmless music
Opera as it should be
This, at last, is what the English National Opera is for
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Why they hated Ann Widdecombe
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The US should put stubbornness aside and end the conflict with Iran
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Too often, lawyers add little to business transactions except delays and questionable costs
Farage fumbles
“Stop Farage” seems to be a more effective message than “Farage”
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Feeling maximally healthy and productive is not the point of life
Killing the bill
Parliament has not approved assisted suicide — but the fight to revive it has already begun.
Soft competition
There are participation prizes to everyone at the Venice Biennale
The government must defuse a legal time bomb
Countries of the “Global South” could sue the UK over greenhouse gas emissions
How to be a populist in the art world
A recent conference on populism exposed the extent to which the art world talks around actually existing people
A love-hate affair
Finger-lingering over hideous fluffy lilac footwear