Owen Davies was brought up in London but has Welsh roots. He was raised on chapel hymns, Handel oratorios and Mozart arias. He began going to the theatre in the 1960s and, as a teenager, used to stand at the back of the Old Vic stalls to watch Olivier's National Theatre productions. He also saw many RSC productions at the Aldwych in the 1960s. At this time he also began to see operas at Covent Garden and developed a love for Mozart, Verdi, and Richard Strauss. After a career as a social worker and a trade union officer, Owen has retired from paid employment but as a 'mature student' he has recently gained a certificate in Opera Studies from Rose Bruford College.
Bartok's 1918 one-act “expressionist” opera Bluebeard's Castle is a work that is puzzling and compelling in equal measure. In this fine version – pres...
This utterly absorbing retelling of The Magic Flute is a triumph for Opera Alegria – and for the Arcola Theatre's Grimeborn season. I must confess to ...
The Baseless Fabric company exists to bring theatre and opera to public spaces and to give new audiences the chance to experience performances that th...
Opera in Spain was influenced by the Italian tradition that dominated the rest of Europe in the period after 1800. But it managed to maintain its own ...
Rossini wrote some 39 operas and is best remembered for his comedies, particularly The Barber of Seville, but his output was evenly balanced between c...
Monteverdi was a venerable and celebrated church musician of 75 when he wrote Poppea. It was quite common for church composers to supplement their inc...
As a lover of Jane Austen's novels, I have always felt that they do not offer the sort of dramatic set pieces that opera needs. So I have mixed feelin...
Johann Hasse was one of the most popular opera composers of the eighteenth century. He died in 1783 (just 8 years before Mozart's death) but he was 84...
This Welsh National Opera production of Don Giovanni has many merits - a fine orchestra, a bold design, some wonderful singing. It offers a convincin...
Marcio da Silva's groundbreaking company Ensemble Orquesta (EO) is fast developing an enviable reputation for bringing rare baroque treasures to the o...
