Editor’s Note Front of House www.operanow.co.uk www.operanow.co.uk
EDITORIAL Phone +44 (0)20 7333 1701 Email opera.now@markallengroup.com Editor-in-Chief Hattie Butterworth Associate Editor Helena Matheopoulos Consultant Editor Keith Clarke Contributing Editors Francis Muzzu, Tom Sutcliffe Robert Thicknesse (UK), Francis Carlin (France), James Imam (Italy), Karyl Charna Lynn (USA), Andrew Mellor (Scandinavia), Ken Smith (Far East) Design Daniela DiPadova, Louise Wood ADVERTISING Phone +44 (0)20 7333 1716 Title Manager Liam-Rhys Jones, liam.jones@markallengroup.com Advertising Production Daniela DiPadova, +44 (0)20 7333 1727, daniela.dipadova@markallengroup.com SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES Phone UK 0800 137201 Overseas +44(0)1722 716997 Email subscriptions@markallengroup.com Subscriptions Manager Bethany Foy UK Subscription Rate £80 PUBLISHING Phone +44(0)20 7738 5454 Commercial Manager Esther Zuke Marketing & Events Director Tony Hill Head of Marketing John Barnett Group Institutional Sales Manager Jas Atwal Production Director Richard Hamshere Circulation Director Sally Boettcher Editorial Director Martin Cullingford Managing Director Paul Geoghegan Chief Executive O cer Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen
Part of www.markallengroup.com OperaNow, ISSN 0958-501X, (USPS 9346) is published monthly by MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $115. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Opera Now, WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscription records are maintained at MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd, Unit A, Buildings 1-5 Dinton Business Park, Catherine Ford Road, Dinton, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 5HZ. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. © MA Music, Leisure and Travel Ltd, 2023. All rights reserved. No part of Opera Now may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publishing director. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor. The presence of advertisements in Opera Now implies no endorsement of the products or services offered. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing their contract. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. Please read our privacy policy by visiting http://privacypolicy. markallengroup.com. This will explain how we process, use and safeguard your data. Printed in the UK by Pensord, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood, NP12 2YA Newstrade distribution by Seymour 020 7429 4000
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Addio, del passato
It’s time to say goodbye. After 25 years at the helm of Opera Now, I’m hanging up my editor’s hat and moving on to new horizons. It has been a whirlwind of a ride, which has taken me to the corners of the world in pursuit of an art form that has proved remarkably resilient, endlessly inventive and capable of thriving in the most unlikely circumstances.
I have vivid recollections of Verdi’s Falstaff in a theatre built of ice in the Arctic Circle, where the orchestra played in woollen mittens in the bitter cold. In the summer heat of Mumbai, I caught the Indian premiere of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, receiving standing ovations from a local audience with little experience of opera. And then there was Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot, staged high in the Lebanon Mountains above Beirut, where the principal soprano lost her voice mid-performance and had to be dubbed by the show’s hapless director, a booming baritone. Wagner, as always, triumphed and the audience loved it!
These are, of course, a handful of quirks and extremes. As editor, I’ve had the privilege of engaging with some of the most creative, talented and hardworking people on the planet as they busily put together incredible, complex productions of opera in venues of every kind, day in, day out. Frustratingly, opera still tends to be characterised as a ‘museum art’, but a quick glance through the pages of Opera Now will tell you otherwise: here you will see a dramatic art form that is alive, colourful, endlessly stimulating and often challenging.
After 25 years, there are just too many people to thank for smoothing my way through the choppy waters of both the opera and the publishing world. I hope I’ll be forgiven for not picking out individuals. Like an opera house, a magazine is a repository of every kind of skill: editorial teams, writers, reviewers, photographers, designers, public relations firms, advertising, marketing and subscription departments... the list goes on. Thank you all for your extraordinary support and commitment over so many years.
Editors come and go, but the show must go on. I hand over the editorship of Opera Now to the very capable and talented Hattie Butterworth, a consummate musician who has a rare gift for expressing her love of music in words – a vital skill to have in a magazine about opera.
Finally, I must thank all of you, our loyal readers. You have sustained the magazine through good times and bad. The dark days of the pandemic were the most di cult of all, but you stuck with us and, like opera itself, Opera Now has bounced back with renewed vigour. I’m looking forward to the magazine flourishing under Hattie’s editorship, and hope to see you soon at the opera!
Ashutosh Khandekar
@operanow fb.com/operanow Opera Now captures the drama, colour and vitality of one of the most powerful of all the performing arts. In our print and digital issues, we showcase the creative spirit of opera, both on stage and behind the scenes, with profiles of opera companies, singers, directors and designers. Our in-depth features reflect how diverse cultural elements have influenced opera, including travel, history, literature, art, architecture, politics and philosophy. Our lively reviews and opinion pages are a platform for writers and critics drawn from all over the world. Our aim is to inspire our opera-loving readers to broaden their knowledge and deepen their passion for this fascinating and stimulating artform.
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