AUTUMN 2005 - ETO REVIEW'S ALCINA

THE TIMES ****
James Conway promised a serious answer to those would turn Handel into a clown and he delivers.  His staging of Alcina for English Touring Opera casts a spell from its first moments.

 Amanda Echalaz leads a wonderfully concentrated young cast

 The marvellous Gary Cooper at the harpsichord coaxes a rapt performance from the orchestra.

 It is a gorgeous evening.

 
THE INDEPENDENT *****
Alcina is a fabulous vision: a perfected example of what a thinking director can achieve by the subtle power of suggestion.

Sensual, searing, smouldering with passion and sensationally well directed, James Conway’s wise and intelligent staging is a masterpiece.

Rarely does a touring production have so much to offer.

Worth moving heaven and earth to see.

OBSERVER
ETO scores highly in the vital area of quality singing. Louise Poole delivers a bold and purposeful account of Ruggiero, with Tamsin Coombs elegantly direct as the flighty Morgana... the evening's most extraordinary performance comes from Amanda Echalaz as the temptress herself, her flamboyant, devil-may-care singing bringing listeners right to the edge of their seats.

THE TELEGRAPH
Amanda Echalaz… made something very beautiful of "Ah, mio cor!", one of the most sumptuous and sensuous arias that Handel ever wrote. Louise Poole was smoothly elegant as the infatuated Ruggiero, keeping her nerve through the bracing runs and divisions of "Stà nell' Ircana".