Birmingham Opera Company - Birmingham
28 March 2024

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Performance reviews

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Das Rheingold

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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 Mtsensk

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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
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
Wake

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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 Break

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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
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Michael Tippett’s fourth opera deserves to have been withdrawn from cold storage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
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.
Birmingham Opera Company's to perform in warehouse
Birmingham Opera Company will perform The Ice Break by Michael Tippett in a Digbeth warehouse.
The Khovansky Files: A National Enquiry

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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
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 Licht

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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
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
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.
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.
Life is a Dream

Birmingham Opera Company


No. 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
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
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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