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 is a student at Rose Bruford College studying for a BA in Opera Studies.
The works of Donizetti are loved by some for the opportunities they provide for great singers to display their wares. In the bel canto world he domina...
To lose one soprano may be regarded as a misfortune – to lose two turns out to be a piece of good luck for Covent Garden because it brought to the sta...
What a pity that ENO did not decide to call this opera simply The Women of Whitechapel and leave the name of a serial killer out of the title. All the...
Affectionate parody is quite the fashion in London at the moment and, if you like Netflix series The Crown - full of good stories and bad history – th...
English Touring Opera is an indispensable part of the opera scene in the UK. Both their touring schedule – more than 20 locations between now and June...
Bury Court Opera has surpassed its own high standards with this superb version of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. In a perceptive programme note dire...
Athol Fugard is a playwright of world status and he has written almost 40 plays now. This work dates from 1978 but it is set in Port Elizabeth in 1963...
The Merry Widow is a charming bit of Viennese nonsense with some good tunes and a bit of a Beatrice and Benedict plot. ENO has tried very hard – maybe...
Covent Garden’s revival of Jan Philipp Gloger’s production of Cosi Fan Tutte makes a welcome return to Covent Garden. Cosi has always been regarded as...
The admirable Bury Court Opera has brought us another specially commissioned work by promising young composer Noah Mosley. It’s a bizarre tale of lost...
