These are all the opera companies that are not featured in another category. The ROH and ENO, as we’ve seen just about everything of theirs this season, have their own reviews, and Barry has just done a Touring Opera review of Glyndebourne, WNO, ON and ETO. These are all the others. There are actually a lot more of them than I expected. This season included my first visits to companies including Opera Holland Park, Bampton Classical Opera, English Touring Opera and University College Opera – all of whom I have had the opportunity to see before, but never did because I was poor/lazy/unobservant/all of the above. Some of the operas I saw were absolutely awful (they shall remain nameless for now) and some would be included in my top operas of the whole year. (These will also remain nameless, but not for long.)

Perhaps the most surprising thing, in looking at a list of everything I’ve seen from the so-called ‘lesser’ companies this year is the number of operas I have never seen before. There are, of course, several that I have: Don Giovanni is a very well-established part of the repertoire, and I think I’ve seen more performances of Die Zauberflote and Rigoletto than any other opera, with the exception of Le nozze di Figaro. I’d also seen Boris Godunov before, and, although I still haven’t seen a staged performance of either in person, I’m very familiar with Rodelinda and Fidelio.

However, there are a number of operas in this list I haven’t even heard of. Opera Rara, of course, specialises in opera that most people haven’t heard of, and they gave an enjoyable, if not always ideally cast, concert performance of Il diluvio universale at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Opera Restor’d, too, are likely to be searching for works that are not particularly well-known, although their wonderful Love’s Labyrinth, beautifully and hilariously performed by Angela Henckel and Giles Davies, seemed more like a new and brilliant invention than a restoration. The London Symphony Orchestra have such a fine reputation, you can’t really question them if they want to perform Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face, conducted by the composer. You tend to think that if the LSO likes it, it must be good, but I can’t say I noticed it if it was. Of a much more enjoyable standard from the LSO was their Fidelio, with Christine Brewer a powerful Leonore, and late replacement Kristinn Sigmundsson an unusual but effective Rocco.

But other opera companies are performing little-known works as well. Bampton Classical Opera, Opera UK and The Opera Group all offered operas I’d never heard before. But L’infedelta delusa (BCO), Der Schauspieldirektor (Opera UK), Blond Eckbert and The Nose (both The Opera Group) are all works I’d like to see again. University College Opera make a practice of offering an unusual opera every year, and this year’s was Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella in what I believe was its London premiere. This one needs to be performed again very soon before everyone forgets about it again. There was not only much to admire in the performances of Tamsin Coombs (Estrella) and the other professionals, but the Chorus and small solo roles, sung by students, were of a surprisingly high standard. I’ve certainly seen worse in professional productions.

In some ways, young singers have an advantage in singing in little-known operas because there are no great singers with which they can be compared. However, it is likely that the better-known operas will attract bigger crowds because more people will know the names. And this year offered plenty of proof that young singers are perfectly capable of making the big roles their own. Anna Leese, who sang Juliette in British Youth Opera’s Romeo et Juliette, coped brilliantly the character’s different styles of aria, and her acting was great too. Alison Guill, in Opera UK’s School for Lovers (a reduced version of Cosi fan tutte) was extremely funny and very touching as Fiordiligi, surely one of opera’s most problematic heroines, and she could even sing both her arias perfectly. I’ve never heard that before. Opera Holland Park mostly managed to find experienced singers such as Gail Pearson (Gilda), Orla Boylan (Lisa The Queen of Spades) and the even more experienced but unrehearsed Viktor Lutsyuk (Hermann The Queen of Spades). But there were exceptions in Olafur Sigurdson, who was more than capable of both Rigoletto’s challenging music and portaying his complicated emotional journey.

The standards were also high from visiting companies. Les Arts Florissants visited the Barbican with an astounding staging of Handel’s oratorio Hercules, starring Joyce DiDonato, and the Bolshoi offered an all-Russian programme of The Fiery Angel and Boris Godunov, which looked as good as it sounded with set designs so beautiful, that... well, that I noticed them. Il complesso barocco also visited the Barbican and gave a performance of Rodelinda that was gorgeous despite at least four recent cast changes. Two of the replacements stood out in particular: Emma Bell (Rodelinda) and Romina Basso (Eduige), along with scheduled performer Hilary Summers as Unulfo.

Finally, I would like to mention the number of reduced operas around. So far, they have all been reduced Mozart. When I first heard about reduced operas, I wasn’t sure whether I liked the idea. Operas are long, but no longer than a lot of films, and operas have intervals. But the reduced operas I saw this year all worked brilliantly. English Pocket Opera performed a version of The Magic Flute lasting approximately two hours as a kind of children’s pantomime. It was very funny, and true to Mozart, and although there could have been more opportunities for audience involvement, the few children in the audience clearly loved it. (And so did I, and I’m really excited because I think it’s going to be on this Christmas too...) The six singers sang all the roles between them, and Richard Edgar-Wilson’s Tamino, Mark Ashmore’s Sarastro/Speaker and David Vivian Russell’s Monostatos and Third Lady in particular were just as delightful – if not better – than anything I’ve seen at a major opera house.

Opera UK’s School for Lovers, as has already been mentioned, was a reduced version of Cosi fan tutte. The excellent David Swift acted as a narrator, introducing each musical item and explaining what happened in between. The cast had previously performed the complete opera with the same company, and were excellent. I don’t know whether there were any opera newcomers in the audience. Sadly, particularly as the opera was being performed in UCL’s theatre, there weren’t many young people there at all, but there’s no reason why people should be young when they first come to opera. It was also a lot of fun for people who knew the opera because it’s wonderful to hear such good performances.

Fast Forward Figaro was, of course, a reduction of Le nozze di Figaro. All the roles were performed by sopranos Janis Kelly and Marie Angel and pianist Tim Burke. Le nozze di Figaro is a brilliant opera, but even when they have the correct number of performers and you know the story anyway, you can still get very confused. But not in Fast Forward Figaro. It was a performance you could enjoy on two levels: you could enjoy brilliant assumptions of the characters by the three performers, and you could enjoy it as a brilliant comic play. And when people walk out of it saying they loved it, they understood it, and they want to see the real opera, it shows it’s been a brilliant success.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk