Latest news with #RoyalBalletandOpera
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Myleene Klass' floral maxi dress is perfect for the races and still in stock
Myleene Klass' floral dress is so beautiful she had people stopping her on the street to ask where it's from, and it's the perfect outfit to wear for race days like Royal Ascot There's nothing quite like a day at the races, and with Royal Ascot approaching (not to mention plenty of other race days on the horizon), the search is on for the perfect race day outfit. Luckily we spotted the perfect dress for the occasion on none other than Myleene Klass, with her £59 Together Floral Print Frill Detail Maxi Dress from Freemans being an instant hit. Myleene shared several snaps of herself wearing the dress to the Royal Ballet and Opera on Instagram, saying: 'I can't tell you how many times I was stopped and asked about this stunning dress.' The floral maxi dress is a great pick for a day at the races, in keeping with the formal dress code whilst still being breezy and floaty enough for the scorching summer temperatures. Myleene's Floral Print Maxi Dress is available in sizes 8 to 24, and has a subtle V-neckline that bares a little skin without being revealing. The ruffle details on the sleeves and tiered flowy skirt give it a romantic, feminine look, and it has a flattering silhouette thanks to the elasticated waistband, which keeps you comfortable whilst accentuating your shape. If you prefer a more top-to-toe ruffle design, Omnes' £79 Missy Dress in Floral Red is a great alternative, with a bold pink and red colour combination and diagonal ruffles across it. Alternatively New Look's Blue Floral Print Ruffle Trim Midi Dress has ruffle tiers with additional frill details on the bust and straps, and is currently on sale down from £45.99 to £34.49. For a more streamlined silhouette, Never Fully Dressed's Floral Sofia Dress is £129 and has a sleek slip-style design with a subtle pastel floral print across it. Although it's ideal for formal occasions like Royal Ascot or even a summer wedding, you could just as easily wear the Freemans Floral Print Maxi Dress with some sandals and a raffia bag on holiday, or throw on a jacket and trainers for a day at the park. Myleene opted to style hers with some statement gold jewellery including a chain belt, and matching white heels and a clutch bag for her sophisticated evening at the opera. Freemans shoppers have also been praising the dress's look, with one saying: 'The dress is a smidge big on the top for me but is very floaty and comfy. I got a few compliments when I wore it and it's very light weight. Perfect for summer days and afternoon teas.' Another wrote: 'I say just perfect great length and was so nice at the wedding I was at, lovely colours.' One did, however, mention: 'Comes up big, so have returned & ordered smaller size.'
Elle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
Victoria Beckham and Daughter Harper Share a Chic Fashion Moment at the Ballet
On Saturday, Victoria Beckham shared a photo with her daughter, Harper Beckham, enjoying a mother-daughter date at the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ballet in London. The designer posted the pic in her Instagram Stories, taken Friday in a box at the Royal Ballet and Opera house. The designer wore a gray pencil skirt and a black top layered with a black cardigan featuring three quarter sleeves. Her 13-year-old daughter wore a long silky slip dress, showing how she takes after Victoria when it comes to fashion. Over the image, the former Spice Girls singer wrote, 'Special night at the ballet. I love you Harper.' Shortly after, Victoria began sharing a number of new pics of her kids and their father, David Beckham, to celebrate Father's Day, including images of Harper. It seems like the spaghetti strap look is a favorite of the young teen at formal events, as seen in photos of her smiling by her dad's side. The couple has a lot to celebrate lately, as David was recently given his knighthood, leading the King's Birthday Honors list. Victoria shared a picture of herself hugging David as he leans back towards her with a big smile, writing in the caption, 'You've always been my knight in shining armour, but now it's official. Sir @davidbeckham!!! What an honour, I couldn't be prouder of you. Your dedication to the things that matter most—your country, your work, your passion, and most of all, your family—has never wavered.' She continued, 'The way you've touched so many lives over the years with kindness and humility speaks volumes about the man you are and continues to inspire us everyday. But above all else, I'm so, so proud to call you mine. I love you so much xxxx.'
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Pimpinone review – hot-to-trot comic opera from the underperformed Telemann
Spare a thought for Georg Philipp Telemann. Friend to Bach and Handel, and godfather to Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel, he penned more than 3,000 works including 29 extant operas. Yet, for all his fecundity of invention and consistent quality, we hear his sparkling music far less often than he deserves. If people are unsure where to begin, how about Pimpinone? First performed 300 years ago in Hamburg, its three acts were intended as comic intermezzi for a production of Handel's opera seria Tamerlano (total running time a gruelling five hours!) With an easy to follow plot and laugh-out-loud musical numbers, it would have come as welcome light relief, assuming people stuck around to listen. The Royal Ballet and Opera's staging, with singers, conductor and director drawn from its Jette Parker Artists programme, reveals a work that's on the slight side, but one with plenty of charm and sexual politics not a million miles from our own time, hence its interest beyond the recording studio. The work is subtitled 'The Unequal Marriage Between Vespetta and Pimpinone or The Domineering Chambermaid', which pretty much sums it up. In Act I, working-class Vespetta – the name means little wasp – lands a job as housemaid to Pimpinone. Gifts aside, by Act II she's ready to quit until he offers to marry her. In Act III, after much comic quarrelling, he grudgingly grants her some genuine freedoms. Sophie Gilpin sets it in the 1960s, bringing a modern slant to issues of equality and female emancipation. It works well. Vespetta is first discovered performing as part of a festive bash at Pimpinone's pad. With lights and tinsel, she's literally done up like a Christmas tree (witty set and costumes by Anna Yates). Isabela Díaz has great fun with her lively opening aria, slipping into flats to soothe sore feet. A playful actor, her bright soprano with attractive upper extension does the rest. Pay rises, prenups and miniskirts attend her shimmying up the greasy pole of social mobility, and we root for her all the way. Grisha Martirosyan is her nice-but-dim Pimpinone complete with porn tash and dubious taste in multicoloured shirts. His thrusting baritone has depth and power at the top, and he's funny too, especially in the panting syncopations of his hot-to-trot opening aria. Later on, he reveals a nice line in comedy falsetto, while Díaz shows off her nimble technique in a pair of teasing vocal minuets (though both might have sung more softly at times). Peggy Wu conducts a crisp performance with players drawn from the English National Opera Orchestra. Continuo pickups might have been quicker off the mark and more imaginatively decorated, but otherwise her approach, like Gilpin's, allows Telemann's neatly revived confection to shine. At Linbury theatre, London, until 17 May
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Opera director Netia Jones: ‘AI is not going away. Either you batten down the hatches or you ride the wave'
Born in London, where she still lives, to an artist mother and musician father, Netia Jones is the new associate director of the Royal Opera. Known for using immersive installations, film and VR, her operas include Alice in Wonderland, Least Like the Other with Brian Irvine, which won the Ivor Novello best opera award, and Peter Grimes, which finished its run last week at the Gothenburg Opera House. Next year she will curate the Royal Ballet and Opera's first opera and technology festival, RBO/Shift. The first opera you ever saw, when you were 10, was Peter Grimes. How has it been to revisit the tragic fisherman's tale?Relentless! It's such a brilliant story but so bleak; it gets under your skin. Doing it in Gothenburg, which was cold and very wet, was perfect, although not the best thing for your mental health. And you were obsessed with it as a child, too?I was – drawing posters for it for weeks afterwards, and, funnily enough, it was here, at the Royal Opera House. I've realised something recently, actually. Kids don't come to the opera with any preconceptions. I've overheard the school matinees here, and the kids go wild. They just erupt. They're the best events any opera house can do. Why?Because when the singers come off stage, they're so excited. Kids don't mind about the niceties of when they should applaud or cheer, and I love that, because making opera is a kind of insanity. No one makes money making operas, but hundreds of people come together to make each one anyway, and that's extraordinary, isn't it? I think you really feel that something special is happening watching one when you're young. Opera is still seen as elitist to many, though. How would you convince someone to try it?The first thing I'd say is you don't have to like it. It's not like it's really superior. Most of the people that I know are not opera-goers, and they only come along because I drag them along, but they do tend to respond well. Anyway, opera isn't one thing. It's disparate – it can be on a small scale, or very technical, or full and lavish, or avant garde and German! Any tips for nervous opera-goers?It's useful to know the story before you come. If you did that with a play or film, it wouldn't work. In opera, we don't have spoiler alerts. You directed the first VR opera, Current, Rising and engage with AI in your work. How would you win over tech-sceptics?With any technological development, some people will use it to do bad things, some will use it to do good things. That's got nothing to do with the technology – it's just how we are as humans. But as artists, we must explore technology in all its guises because we are trained to create rather than to destroy. If you're coming to technology thinking 'What is the most beautiful, poetic, or positive thing we can do with this?', you think of how it enables all kinds of openings, allows multiple voices and improves access. Aren't you scared of AI?I know AI is the topic of the moment, but it's not going away. Either you batten down your hatches and the storm rages outside, or you ride the huge wave which is coming. I think it's better to be riding the wave than being overwhelmed by it. We can't be blind to the dangers and risks, but the whole AI story isn't just about worrying if machines are going to create operas or make everybody unemployed. It's about how we, the humans in the loop, can be enabled to imagine new futures when we're using it. It must help your optimism that you work in an environment where people aren't just stuck behind laptops.I've been lucky enough to work in every single opera-house department, seeing people's hands in vats dying fabrics, or embroidering, or building sets, or welding. Those jobs will never go away. I don't believe that opera is going to go away either. It has been with us for 300 years, and it will carry on, because it's not a medium: it's an art form. It's like Janus, the two-headed god, looking back into the past as much as it looks into the future. You studied modern languages at university. Has that been helpful?It's super useful to be able to speak the local language to people in [backstage] workshops. Recently, I learned Swedish for Peter Grimes with an AI buddy, which is so sad. I now have little conversations with my AI Swedish best friend! Speaking other languages is also important post-Brexit, as you can't be isolationist in opera. Opera, by its very nature, is international, and the best way of making work is to be open to other voices. Think about Mozart. He was travelling around Europe, picking up the best things from all of the countries, including the UK. This melting pot created his amazing work. You also work outside opera, working in video art and producing performances by artists like gothic singer-songwriter Keeley Forsyth. What do those experiences give you?Keeley's phenomenal. Her compositions really draw you into this shattering world of what it is to be human. I spend lots of my time outside opera, anyway – I'm more likely to be listening to Father John Misty than I am to Verdi, to be honest. But to me music is music, and to be able to do different projects concurrently means a great deal to me. It keeps you fresh – plus I don't see boundaries in my work. We're so susceptible to putting fences between things as human beings, but you shouldn't just do one thing with blinkers on for the rest of your life. That exchange with other ideas and other people is everything.
The Guardian
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Peter Grimes review – Netia Jones's brutal new production electrifies
With music that surges, pitches, billows in every bar, and a story dragged towards doom with riptide inevitability, Peter Grimes (1945) is ruled by the sea. No revelation there: on many occasions its composer, Benjamin Britten, said as much himself. He and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, who created the role of Grimes, spent most of their adult lives near the Suffolk coast, the North Sea a steely backdrop. In a new staging for Gothenburg Opera, conducted by Christoph Gedschold, the British director-designer Netia Jones has ditched the usual sea-as-metaphor idea, a handy cover-all for life's existential questions, and embraced maritime reality. To underline the point, costumes, faded and weather-beaten, have been sprayed with salt. Workers gutting fish in white aprons are spattered with blood. Every detail reminds us of a sea that is not figurative but harsh and physical. Newly appointed associate director of the Royal Opera, London, Jones is a radical creator who uses video to original effect. This was her Gothenburg debut. She has removed the opera from its original East Anglian fishing village setting, taken from The Borough (1810), a collection of poems by George Crabbe, to a libretto by Montagu Slater. The locale is now a remote island community off Sweden's west coast in a fictional present. Gothenburg's seafaring history – this is a port city with a Viking past – is also acknowledged. Its traditionally shaped 1,276-seat opera house, opened in 1994, is airy and ship-like, with decks, railings and walkways. Generous public funding covers 72% of its annual budget (compared with 14%, in 2022/23, at the UK's Royal Ballet and Opera). We should say, too, that Gothenburg Opera's pioneering record of sustainability – green power, food waste turned into biogas, recycled costumes – has led the way for other opera companies (though I'm not sure any has followed their example of keeping 50,000 bees and selling the honey). Outside in the harbour, hulls, piers and cranes shape the skyline. Jones and her team have built on all this in Grimes. What you see on stage distantly echoes what you pass on your way to the venue. Ingenious use of video projections, all filmed in the Gothenburg archipelago and to the north beyond, keeps turbulent sea and clouded sky to the fore. Action takes place on a pontoon, waters lapping below. The rest of the set is minimal. The pitched roof of Grimes's hut mirrors that of the wooden church in which hymn-singing parishioners praise the Lord – one of Britten's characteristic musical cross-fades – before bullying the lone outsider in their midst. Colour is subdued, monochrome until, explosively, all turns lurid red for the midsummer fires and festivities, which render ordinary, hard-working people a vindictive mob (lighting design by Ellen Ruge). The sight of an effigy of Grimes hanging from a boom hook, which might usually hold a few tonnes of raw fish, is electrifying. Every character in this large cast, mostly Swedish, singing in good, clear English, is well delineated – all worthy of mention, but with Åke Zetterström an unusually sympathetic Balstrode leading the ensemble. In the title role, the tenor Joachim Bäckström, radiant-toned and detailed, conveys the frustration of the grizzled, poetic fisherman whose carelessness towards his boy apprentices is left uncertain and complex. The massed singing-shouting of 'Peter Grimes!' by the excellent Gothenburg Opera chorus had the intensity, the ugliness, the displaced grief of a war cry. By the end, when his tormentors sing the name again, pianissimo, tuba playing its soft, fog-horn call, they sounded like briny wraiths. The handling of the female roles revealed anew their importance to the story: the widowed schoolmistress Ellen Orford, courageously delivered by the brilliant young soprano Matilda Sterby; Auntie (a benevolent, warm-hearted Katarina Karnéus); and her twin-like, spirited nieces (Sofie Asplund and Mia Karlsson). Ellen is disturbingly, unwittingly instrumental in the tragedy. Her own dreams blind her to the truth of the situation. Auntie and the nieces are too often typified as near-sluts: not here. Their quartet, in which they meditate on the difficulties of being women in a male-dominated world, is among the most rhapsodic passages in the opera – along with the orchestral sea interludes, which act as chapter headings as the work unfolds. Hardly well known to most opera-goers in Sweden, Peter Grimes is nevertheless not new to the country. The first ever performance outside the UK, in March 1946, was in Stockholm, with more recent stagings there, in Gothenburg and elsewhere. This production, which opened last weekend, raises an always affecting work to a different level of emotional impact. That the cast, chorus and superb orchestra were all outstanding was an equal part of the equation. The work closes, as a new day begins and the nets are brought in, with a muffled thud. At the end, the whole audience slowly rose as one, less out of normal curtain-call hoorays and excitement, though there was that too. It was more as if we were stunned at the way human cruelty, laid bare, could go hand in hand with music of such restless, elliptical and violent beauty. Peter Grimes is at Gothenburg Opera House, Gothenburg, Sweden, until 1 April
