This was a semi-staged version of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos; Laurent Pelly is the director at Glyndebourne, and, while I enjoyed his Donizetti La fille du régiment, seen at Covent Garden, this (at Glyndebourne) seemed less alive, less deep, less convincing. And Pelly is not the first to bring the Composer into the second act (so did the previous staging at Glyndebourne, 2013, by Katharina Thoma, as did, for example, Sven-Eric Bechtold at the Vienna State Opera and Ersan Mondtag’s recent Salzburg production, for example). But the Composer’s presence was more obvious (unmistakable, in fact) in the staging than here at the Albert Hall.
Here, suggestions of a mobile house front (it is set in the house of the richest man in Vienna) were achieved through projection at the back and with the house itself as an onstage doorway frame, but surely one had to see the original production and Massimo Troncabetti’s design to know what that was about? As a result of a bare-bones approach, lighting was thrown into relief and effectively used: Paul Higgins is credited with the semi-staging “based on” Pelly (in the original staging, colour played a vital part in – pardon the pun – illuminating a corrugated backdrop).
The opera’s inclusion in this year’s Glyndebourne season is entirely in line with the 2026 thread of meta-theatre, or opera about opera: it included Rossini’s Il turco in Italia and Monteverdi Orfeo, both of which had characters ‘inventing’ the story we see in real-time. It’s a genius thread thanks to Festival Director Stephen Langridge, and it is only right that Ariadne is the chosen Proms representative. Ariadne also has a history of its own at Glyndebourne, arriving in 1953, conducted by John Pritchard, with a cast including Sesto Bruscantini (Music Master), Dorothy Dorow (Ariadne) and Richard Lewis as Bacchus. It has been a regular ever since.
The opera’s premise leads to an astonishing act of compositional virtuosity: two shows in one opera, three if you include the backstage Prologue. A lavish dinner and fireworks are separated by high and low art: the Composer’s “Ariadne” and an entertainment by a commedia dell’arte troupe. But the dinner overruns, and the two have to be combined. The Prologue creates the back-story and describes the backstage chaos; the opera itself moves between farce and high tragedy with a virtuosity few composers could match.
The cast was identical to the Glyndebourne, including Owen Lucas as Officer (who had substituted for the originally-billed Liam Forrest). Robin Ticciati was again at the helm, a natural Straussian whether in the cabaret of the commedia dell’arte (and we did get real nods to cabaret) or the high tragedy of Ariadne. The Prologue requires both singers (and speaker: actor William Relton, so clear, so brilliant) and the small orchestra to deliver with pinpoint accuracy, and there was plenty of that. Ticciati can allow the music to stretch and bring it back to sparkling, metronomic accuracy in a fraction of a second. He created a sense of theatricality that is surely the very essence of the Prologue. Ticciati reminded us that the Prologue is not only comedy; there are pre-echoes of the opera proper here, too. When it came to the solo strings that open the Opera proper, how beautiful the strings of the LPO sounded, a gossamer web that naturally expanded in colour.
As the Composer, Samantha Hankey sounded exceptional in the Prologue, her character flustered by the chaos, and flabbergasted by the idea that her masterpiece could be so corrupted. The Zerbinetta, Alina Wunderlin, owned the stage from her first entrance, the perfect complement to Hankey, flirty, flighty, agile both physically and vocally. I wonder if any Zerbinetta will trump Jennifer France’s assumption at Opera Holland Park in 2018 (even Kathleen Battle did not leave such an impression). Yet when it came to the opera proper, Wunderlin’s “Grossmächtige Prinzessin” was a masterclass in vocal virtuosity, and I heard little of a thinness of timbre that crept in in some of the longer lines at Glyndebourne.
Of course, it is in the opera we meet Ariadne and Bacchus in their mythic reality (which just happens to clash with the commedia dell’arte figures’ reality). While Rachel Willis-Sørensen was brilliant in the Prologue, she came into her own in the Opera, her “Es gibt ein Reich” finer than in Glyndebourne (although as there, Ticciati’s magical orchestral colours tended to bend the ear). Willis-Sørensen’s voice dealt better with the lower-range, Erda-like “Todenreich” here, too. It was in the latter-stages duet with her Bacchus, David Butt Philip, that everything aligned. Butt Philip was in his finest voice and appears to be at the top of his game right now, commanding, his voice absolutely beautiful, capable of myriad shades as well as Heldentenor strength. Willis-Sørensen absolutely matched him in the opera’s love music.
Clad in sparkles, Dancing Master Ru Charlesworth lapped up every opportunity for display, as confident vocally as he was dramatically. Mikhail Timoschenko was a stand-out Truffaldino in amongst a cast of equals (Caspar Singh’s Scaramuccio up there, too). Michael Kraus as the Music-Master was brilliantly, comedically entrenched in his part.
Strauss’ own Rhinemaidens, the Naiad, Dryad and Echo, were, as in Glyndebourne, absolutely exceptional, a perfectly judged triad of voices. No first among equals here, but Anna Denisova, Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein and Eirin Rognerud (respectively) perfect in delivery.
It was surprising that the Royal Albert Hall was not packed to the rafters (as had been the case in the recent Pappano Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts). Their loss: musically this was a first-rate Ariadne. It was, as it should be, Richard Strauss that was the clear star of the evening, his score lovingly crafted by Ticciati.
Colin Clarke
Ariadne auf Naxos (second version)
Music by Richard Strauss
Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Cast and Production Staff:
Prima Donna/Ariadne/: Rachel Willis-Sørensen; Tenor/Bacchus: David Butt Philip; Music Master: Michael Kraus; Major-Domo: William Relton; Composer: Samantha Hankey; Zerbinetta: Alina Wunderlin; Lackey: Oliver Williams; Officer: Owen Lucas; Wigmaker: Hector Bloggs; Dancing Master: Ru Charlesworth; Brighella: Liam Bonthorne, Truffaldino: Liam James Karai; Scaramuccio: Caspar Singh; Harlequin: Mikhail Timoschenko; Naiad: Anna Denisova; Dryad: Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein; Echo: Eirin Rogneraud; Richard Dyball, David Freedman, Ralf Higgins, actors; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Conductor: Robin Ticciati
Semi-staging by Paul Higgins after the 2026 Glyndebourne production by Laurent Pelly
Royal Albert Hall, London, 19 August 2026
All photos © BBC/Chris Christodoulou