Parsifal Act II, reviewed in Wagner News, June 2023

“As always with this outfit [NPO] , the standard of the orchestra's playing was of such a high standard that it was hard to believe that it was not a fully professional group. Nicholas Morris ... is superbly articulate and incisive [as Klingsor] ... sharp edged and dripping with venom. Alex Haigh [as Parsifal] ... sang nobly and with a keen sense of drama. Catherine Woodward [as Kundry was] full-toned, with it's bright, ringing top sounded just right ... By turns, defiant, pleading, innocent, harpy-like ... her final curse was overwhelming.”

Albert Herring, reviewed in Harmony

Alex Haigh’s brilliant portrayal of the title role was sung with irresistible sweetness … yet he brought out to the full the boy’s perpetual pain and embarrassment at being publicly and privately under his domineering mother’s thumb.

Zoë South’s totally magnificent Mrs Herring, part domesticated Valkyrie, part vengeful cottage loaf, part heat-seeking missile, delved even deeper than Haigh into her character’s blend of comedy and tragedy.

The other portrayals showed the same level of awareness. Aaron Holmes’s Sid … was a tender and passionate lover to his Nancy. Emily Hodkinson’s warmly sung, affectionate Nancy was a life force, constantly encouraging Albert, enjoying her liaison with Sid.

Elaine McKrill’s Lady Billows, a gorgon in tweeds, a Brünnhilde turned aristocratic petty tyrant, had the force of an unleashed juggernaut and the soprano roulades of Isolde with overtones of Lucia. Like Mrs Herring, this tyrant needed an emotional punchbag, in this case Anna Loveday’s wideeyed, perpetually terrified "Flo-RENCE!"…who sang with remarkable depth and beauty of tone.

Robin Whitehouse rattled though the Mayor’s high speed speech with the proficiency of a Gilbert and Sullivan veteran, while Jonathan Finney, venturing into baritone territory again, was an oleaginous Vicar whose smile could be quite unnerving and whose patronage of Miss Wordsworth verged on the creepy.

Mimi Doulton’s sweet, childlike Miss Wordsworth, radiated innocence and sang her ecstatic soprano flights most gloriously.

William Stevens, heroically substituting for an ailing Simon Grange at insanely short notice, presented Superintendent Budd as a decent, permanently embarrassed man with the voice of a Fafner.

Elizabeth Stock, Alicia Mallace-Golbourne and Elizabeth Moreland were a fearsome trio of apple-stealing juvenile delinquents. The 14-person instrumental ensemble, expertly conducted by Michael Thorne, filled the church with their sound and kept up a taut dialogue between singers and players.  

A Kind Man, reviewed in Seen and Heard

Jonathan Finney’s lovely new opera A Kind Man deserves wider exposure

In the course of more than forty years’ operagoing, I have seen so many new operas appear … But I really feel that this one has the potential to be a keeper. It tells a compelling and lucid story with which the audience can engage. It requires modest performing forces … Because it is written by a singer, the vocal lines and orchestration are singer-friendly and most of the libretto, except for the occasional soprano-on-soprano dispute, can be easily heard. Most important of all, the musical language is grateful, beautiful, easy on the ear, accessible, and original. So many first operas (even Wagner’s!) are heavily inspired by other composers, but apart from a very faint fragrance of Janáček, and possibly a slight whiff of John Adams, the style is entirely Finney’s own … It is a loveable opera.

Finney was able to persuade the amazing Philippa Boyle to take over the role of Eve at less than thirty hours’ notice, … she sang gloriously while assistant director Keiko Sumida walked the role.

Gerrit Paul Groen was utterly wonderful as Tommy, with a portrayal full of such warmth and radiant goodness that it bade fair to burst out of the tiny auditorium, and a vocal expansiveness that sounded as though he is heading straight for Wotan. Lizzie Holmes as Miriam, Eve’s discontented sister, gave a telling depiction of a woman hardened by life’s disappointments Finney conducted the London Concertante, who played their hearts out for him.

NPO had taken care to market the opera well, and a BBC Radio 3 interview had given further publicity. At this performance they were rewarded with a very good house, which appeared to be composed of operagoing regulars and members of the local community. All were highly enthusiastic, and everyone to whom I spoke said how much they had enjoyed it. I hope so much that other companies take it up. This lovely piece deserves wider exposure.

The Rape of Lucretia, reviewed in Seen and Heard

The incisiveness and vividness of Britten's instrumental writing was brought out to the full, especially in the breathless Ride to Rome and the use of the 'whip' to signal Lucretia's awakening … Conductor Michael Thorne was marvellously alert to the opera’s mercurial changes of mood and the closeness of the relationship between singers and players.

Through the spareness of the presentation, the drama shone forth. Jonathan Finney’s light, agile, muscular tenor and his mobile face brought wonderful expressiveness to the Male Chorus, deeply involved in the action, articulating every word with perfect clarity. Zoe South’s Wagner-sized voice caressed the Female Chorus’s music and words with the tenderness of a consoling angel.

What a thrilling singer [Rebecca Afonwy-Jones] is, a contralto of a depth and richness reminiscent of Kathleen Ferrier, the role’s creator, allied to a keen sense of drama. Her huge, eloquent eyes said everything that the words she sang did not, and the emotional impact of her final scene was utterly devastating.

Simon Grange, his voice mature beyond his years, was deeply moving in the youthful earnestness he brought to Collatinus. Andrew Mayor gave great complexity to his cynical, opportunistic Junius. How much was this man genuinely hurt by his wife’s infidelity, lashing out in revenge, and how much was he turning the situation to his political advantage? His manipulation of Matthew Sharp’s Tarquinius suggested the latter, and was absolutely chilling … This Prince of Rome was a wide-eyed, arrogant, spoiled rich kid whose conviction that he was irresistible to Lucretia would destroy them both, yet in the rape scene there was a fleeting sense that he knew what he was destroying. He sang with a beautifully smooth, confident lyric baritone which I want to hear again.

Tristan und Isolde, reviewed in Seen and Heard 

The [orchestra] displayed a deep understanding of the music and some remarkable virtuosity. … Finney – whose conducting style is quite dynamic – led the orchestral players in a performance that articulated the textures of the score with a clarity that was astonishing.

Palace Opera’s soloists…held nothing back and no one ‘let the side down’… Mae Heydorn’s [Brangane] is dark-hued and plangent, it is so wonderfully projected and … King Marke’s monologue … as sung by the vastly experienced Julian Close proved the emotional highpoint of all we heard. His deep voice was extraordinarily handsome…

It was Edward Hughes and Zoe South … both did very well … Some of their best moments were when launching their lyrical love duet and … ardently rendered … ‘incredible’ was perhaps the right word for what Jonathan Finney, his singers and his orchestra had achieved.

The Turn of the Screw, reviewed in Harmony

Michael Thorne's taut, controlled reading brought out the spine-chilling terror and seductive beauty of the score … Everything radiated menace.

All of the singers were completely inside their roles. … Chiara Vinci's choirboy-toned, horribly wicked Flora had more enthusiastically embraced evil … Miles was sung by … Elizabeth Morland. … and her portrayal of the boy's terror and unwilling enthralment was both pathetic and terrifying.

Nicola Ihnatowicz's finely sung Governess was a mass of nerves from the very beginning, hypersensitive to the increasing pall of evil … the glorious Mae Heydorn … gave Mrs Grose's narrative of Quint's rule and death all the tragic stature of a Verdi heroine. Zoe South's Wagnerian soprano … made the ghostly governess unusually sympathetic … Jonathan Finney was magnificent in the dual roles of the nonchalant Prologue and the evil Quint, his crisp tenor ranging from the light, free-flowing melismas that seduce Miles to snarling fury at the prospect of losing his prey.

Die Walküre, reviewed in Harmony

The five soloists were a wonderful spread of new Wagnerian talent … Andrew Friedhoff’s … brazen tenor was simply thrilling, and no less thrilling was his Sieglinde, Cara McHardy, who developed the character from the battered wife who recoiled in fear at her husband's every utterance to the ecstatic woman whose voice rang out … Oliver Hunt's Hunding could freeze the lovers with a single arrogant glance and his splendid bass cut like a knife.

Zoe South's glorious Brünnhilde was as vulnerable and redoubtable as ever … Julian Close … was making his debut as Wotan, and it was a stunner. His huge, black marble voice ruled the platform and had an edge like a spear. Every word was effortlessly audible. Already this was an assumption with godlike authority.

… the orchestral standard was so high that I was convinced that they must be wholly or largely professional. I was flabbergasted to learn after the performance that the ratio was professionals: 2, amateurs: 70! Finney can be justly proud of his evening's work.