Birmingham Opera Company - Birmingham | 28 March 2024 |
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Performance reviews
Key | Photo gallery | Production details | Video link |
Das RheingoldBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 2 |
Ecstasy from Birmingham Opera Company |
5 Aug 21 / The Spectator |
A sense of the departed Graham Vick presiding over this production was hard to avoid |
4 Aug 21 / Classical Source |
Lady Macbeth of MtsenskBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 6 |
Raw, frightening, overwhelming |
22 Mar 19 / The Spectator |
Birmingham Opera Company excels with an unforgettable Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk |
17 Mar 19 / The Observer |
The ambience resembled one favoured by Oliver Stone when filming Natural Born Killers |
14 Mar 19 / Classical Source |
more reviews [+]
A blast of pure energy |
13 Mar 19 / The Guardian |
Effing, blinding and flamboyant theatrics |
13 Mar 19 / Telegraph |
Filthy, fabulous immersive opera |
13 Mar 19 / The Stage |
WakeBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 2 |
This ambitious new opera about Lazarus is an epic musical failure |
16 Mar 18 / The Times |
Birmingham Opera Company breathe life into Lazarus tale |
16 Mar 18 / The Guardian |
The Ice BreakBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 5 |
Rebirth of Tippett’s The Ice Break in a Birmingham warehouse |
13 Apr 15 / Seen and Heard |
A vividly theatrical and exhilarating experience |
9 Apr 15 / Classical Source |
A masterpiece |
6 Apr 15 / The Birmingham Post |
more reviews [+]
Race riots and pill-popping |
6 Apr 15 / The Guardian |
Michael Tippett’s fourth opera deserves to have been withdrawn from cold storage |
5 Apr 15 / Telegraph |
associated articles [+]
Tippett's The Ice Break – time to take it out of cold storage
Unloved and unstaged in the UK since its 1977 premiere, a new production by Birmingham Opera Company is just what Tippett’s The Ice Break needs to rehabilitate a work of quality and resonance.
Unloved and unstaged in the UK since its 1977 premiere, a new production by Birmingham Opera Company is just what Tippett’s The Ice Break needs to rehabilitate a work of quality and resonance.
Birmingham Opera Company's to perform in warehouse
Birmingham Opera Company will perform The Ice Break by Michael Tippett in a Digbeth warehouse.
Birmingham Opera Company will perform The Ice Break by Michael Tippett in a Digbeth warehouse.
The Khovansky Files: A National EnquiryBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 5 |
A heartfelt reworking of Mussorgsky's epic Khovanshchina |
27 Apr 14 / The Observer |
Mussorgsky's epic arguably gets one too many contemporary glosses in Birmingham Opera Company's new staging |
24 Apr 14 / The Guardian |
Khovanskygate is a version of Mussorgsky's opera with irresistible imaginative panache |
24 Apr 14 / Telegraph |
more reviews [+]
Musorgsky problem opera takes on new life in the big top |
24 Apr 14 / The Arts Desk |
Graham Vick’s provocative adaptation of Mussorgsky’s opera casts a powerful spell |
24 Apr 14 / Financial Times |
Mittwoch aus LichtBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 12 |
A hit-and-miss affair |
7 Sep 12 / Telegraph |
Mittwoch as a whole isn’t a whole, it’s a hotchpotch |
29 Aug 12 / Independent |
Stockhausen's 'Mittwoch' by Birmingham Opera Company is otherworldly |
28 Aug 12 / Los Angeles Times |
more reviews [+]
What a whirl! |
26 Aug 12 / Independent on Sunday |
It was a technological triumph but not a musical one |
26 Aug 12 / The Observer |
Cue the helicopter quartet |
25 Aug 12 / Financial Times |
This production will linger long in the memory |
25 Aug 12 / Classical Source |
String quartets in helicopters and passages of dazzling virtuosity make this a dazzling show |
24 Aug 12 / Telegraph |
Helicopters disappoint in an otherwise thrilling Stockhausen world premiere |
24 Aug 12 / The Arts Desk |
Fliegende Streicher und ekstatische Gesten |
24 Aug 12 / Deutschland Radio |
A wildly ambitious project |
24 Aug 12 / The Stage |
Vick's staging is a triumph of logistics |
23 Aug 12 / The Guardian |
associated articles [+]
Stockhausen’s Mittwoch Aus Licht:Opera with real altitude
It has musicians in helicopters and in mid-air, seagull noises and a camel. Neil McCormick looks forward to Stockhausen's Mittwoch Aus Licht in Birmingham.
It has musicians in helicopters and in mid-air, seagull noises and a camel. Neil McCormick looks forward to Stockhausen's Mittwoch Aus Licht in Birmingham.
The last unperformed Stockhausen opera lifts off
The strings play in helicopters, the trumpeter's on a trapeze, and a camel dances around while defecating planets. Alexis Petridis on Birmingham Opera Company's bid to stage a mind-boggling Stockhausen opera.
The strings play in helicopters, the trumpeter's on a trapeze, and a camel dances around while defecating planets. Alexis Petridis on Birmingham Opera Company's bid to stage a mind-boggling Stockhausen opera.
Life is a DreamBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 5 |
Birmingham Opera Company’s adaptation of Calderon’s 1635 play is a Dream that's both good and bad |
6 Apr 12 / Telegraph |
Thrilling and disturbing |
1 Apr 12 / Independent on Sunday |
A big, richly dramatic opera with a compelling plot |
31 Mar 12 / The Post Bulletin |
more reviews [+]
Life Is a Dream could be a perfect operatic subject, but this doesn't begin to measure up |
23 Mar 12 / The Guardian |
An enthralling and surreal parade |
22 Mar 12 / Telegraph |
No more reviews |
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Performance schedule
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News & Articles
Birmingham Opera Company to lose funding |
The Birmingham Opera Company has lost 50 percent of its grant from Birmingham City Council this year and 100 percent in the next financial year. |
24 Feb 2024 / OperaWire |
Birmingham Opera Company to present Das Rheingold in 2021 |
Birmingham Opera Company has launched their next bold mission; Wagner's Rheingold with an international cast and local volunteer performers led by Artistic Director Graham Vick and newly appointed Music Director Alpesh Chauhan in August 2021. |
2 Oct 2020 / Broadway World |
Royal Philharmonic Society award winners |
Nina Stemme, Birmingham Opera Company win big at Royal Philharmonic Society awards. |
30 Nov 2019 / OperaWire |
Tippett's The Ice Break – time to take it out of cold storage |
Unloved and unstaged in the UK since its 1977 premiere, a new production by Birmingham Opera Company is just what Tippett’s The Ice Break needs to rehabilitate a work of quality and resonance. |
4 Apr 2015 / The Guardian |
Birmingham Opera Company's to perform in warehouse |
Birmingham Opera Company will perform The Ice Break by Michael Tippett in a Digbeth warehouse. |
31 Mar 2015 / The Birmingham Post |