Savitri by Gustav Holts
The Blond Eckbert by Judith Weir
Director Ashley Dean
Conductor Timothy Redmond
Set and Costume Designer Anna Bonomelli
Lighting Designer Andrew May
Photo Credit David Monteith-Hodge
‘This Guildhall performance left a vivid impression that underlined the work’s disturbing ambiguities, helped by Anna Bonomelli’s neon-lit cottage and a visually striking alphabet forest (an obstacle course of giant lettering) that loomed over Act 2 and added a further layer of paranoia.’
David Truslove - Bachtrack
‘Anna Bonomelli’s set is simple, we open on an empty stage with black backdrop and sides and the first time any scenery is seen is when Death emerges. The velvety blackness isolates the singers, but lets their interactions shine and is surprisingly engaging. (…) easily one of the most gripping experiences I have had in any opera house this year.’
Andrew Lohmann
‘But as an essentially psychological drama, even if the characters are given comparatively little to do, it feels right that the few objects present are reduced to the point of abstraction: illumined lines to sketch out Eckbert’s house in the prevailing darkness, and the absent Strohmian embodied in the letters of his name spread over the stage in huge metallic sculpted forms to create a forest around which Eckbert staggers in confusion.’
Curtis Rogers