Musically, Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride is marvellous, vivid, dance-infused work. In the second performance of the run, conductor Jac van Steen and the Philharmonia Orchestra were achieving ...

The Bartered Bride’s grotesque yet highly moving story is grasped with tenderness, intelligent wit and hyperbole, as well as an understanding for the long-gone order (disorder) of human lives in the ...

It’s a sure sign of disaster when the loudest cheer during an opera comes in response to a circus divertissement. Sadly, this was the case in this, the Royal Opera’s second revival of Francesca ...