A bit closer to the present, my Birmingham Post reviews of all three operas in WNO‘s week-long autumn season in Birmingham are now online: the company’s basic (and now rather elderly) production of Carmen, and David Pountney’s new productions of Rossini’s Moses in Egypt and William Tell. (Ignore the strange single-sentence paragraphs; it’s editorial policy at the Post).

Act 3 of Rossini’s William Tell: X-Men meets Patrice Chereau in David Pountney’s new WNO production.

Three overnight reviews in four days is the sort of stint that makes you feel your age; still, Birmingham is shamefully under-served for serious opera and I never miss a WNO production if I can help it. All of these were worth the trip; yet interestingly, while William Tell was undoubtedly the most satisfying overall theatrical experience, it’s Dal tuo stellato soglio, the great Act 3 prayer from Moses in Egypt, that still seems to be playing non-stop on my mental jukebox…