★★★★☆
Even at the greatest lyric theatres — the Royal Opera House, say, or the Mariinsky in St Petersburg — the resident opera and ballet companies rarely perform together except at galas. So let’s give credit to two Leeds-based companies, Opera North and the Phoenix Dance Theatre, for collaborating on this double bill.
That said, their chosen pieces make a decidedly odd couple. Stravinsky’s 1913 The Rite of Spring is violently revolutionary, whereas Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi — although written five years later — is affectionately grounded in ancient Italian splendours: Dante, Florence and opera buffa. On top of that, the two composers detested each other’s music, or said they did.
Yet I enjoyed the contrast, and not least the vivid way that the Opera North