Opera North currently presents The Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky’s dark tale of obsession and greed. The tour opens on 4th November in Nottingham and is then coming to Newcastle, Salford Quays and London’s Barbican – check here for dates and booking information.
Tchaikovsky’s tragedy is a masterpiece of love, secrecy and greed. Neil Bartlett, one of the UK’s most inspirational theatre directors, created a spectacular new period production which features Dame Josephine Barstow as the Countess – the Financial Times wrote of her performance: "Tchaikovsky’s opera has had a good run in the UK these past two decades, but no recent interpreter of the Countess has explored this pivotal role to such rich effect."
Opus Arte catalogue features a production of The Queen of Spades (or Pique Dame as it is also known) from the Liceu Barcelona as well as a recording of Tchaikovsky’s more light-hearted fairy tale opera The Tsarina’s Slippers. A recording of Pique Dame with Seiji Ozawa conducting a stellar cast and the Boston Symphony Orchestra is also available from the Opus Arte Website.
Dame Josephine Barstow has won rave reviews for her interpretation of the role of the elder Queen Elizabeth I in Britten’s Gloriana, also from Opera North.
Tchaikovsky’s ballets form the core of his repertoire – the Opus Arte catalogue features Swan Lake in productions from the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Royal Swedish Ballet ; The Nutcracker from The Royal Ballet and San Francisco Ballet as well as The Sleeping Beauty from Dutch National Ballet and the Royal Ballet.
Other Russian repertoire from Opus Arte includes Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina Boris Godunov, Rachmaninov’s The Miserly Knight ] , Prokofiev’s Goldoni-based Love for Three Oranges and Shostakovich’s 20th century masterpiece Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk .