Birmingham Opera Company - Birmingham | 19 January 2021 |

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Performance reviews
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Lady Macbeth of MtsenskBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 6 | ![]() |
Raw, frightening, overwhelming |
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Birmingham Opera Company excels with an unforgettable Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk |
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The ambience resembled one favoured by Oliver Stone when filming Natural Born Killers |
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A blast of pure energy |
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Effing, blinding and flamboyant theatrics |
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Filthy, fabulous immersive opera |
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WakeBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 2 | ![]() |
This ambitious new opera about Lazarus is an epic musical failure |
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Birmingham Opera Company breathe life into Lazarus tale |
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The Ice BreakBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 5 | ![]() |
Rebirth of Tippett’s The Ice Break in a Birmingham warehouse |
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A vividly theatrical and exhilarating experience |
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A masterpiece |
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Race riots and pill-popping |
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Michael Tippett’s fourth opera deserves to have been withdrawn from cold storage |
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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 |
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Mussorgsky's epic arguably gets one too many contemporary glosses in Birmingham Opera Company's new staging |
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Khovanskygate is a version of Mussorgsky's opera with irresistible imaginative panache |
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Musorgsky problem opera takes on new life in the big top |
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Graham Vick’s provocative adaptation of Mussorgsky’s opera casts a powerful spell |
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Mittwoch aus LichtBirmingham Opera CompanyNo. of reviews: 12 | ![]() |
A hit-and-miss affair |
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Mittwoch as a whole isn’t a whole, it’s a hotchpotch |
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Stockhausen's 'Mittwoch' by Birmingham Opera Company is otherworldly |
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What a whirl! |
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It was a technological triumph but not a musical one |
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Cue the helicopter quartet |
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This production will linger long in the memory |
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String quartets in helicopters and passages of dazzling virtuosity make this a dazzling show |
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Helicopters disappoint in an otherwise thrilling Stockhausen world premiere |
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Fliegende Streicher und ekstatische Gesten |
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A wildly ambitious project |
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Vick's staging is a triumph of logistics |
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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 |
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Thrilling and disturbing |
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A big, richly dramatic opera with a compelling plot |
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Life Is a Dream could be a perfect operatic subject, but this doesn't begin to measure up |
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An enthralling and surreal parade |
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News & Articles
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. |
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Royal Philharmonic Society award winners |
Nina Stemme, Birmingham Opera Company win big at Royal Philharmonic Society awards. |
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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. |
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Birmingham Opera Company's to perform in warehouse |
Birmingham Opera Company will perform The Ice Break by Michael Tippett in a Digbeth warehouse. |
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Mittwoch aus Licht awarded RPS prize |
Royal Philharmonic Society praises rare performance of Mittwoch aus Licht by Birmingham Opera Company. |
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