Rufus Wainwright's "neo-romantic" opera for Manchester

The highest-profile new operas in Britain are from pop musicians writing in a conservative idiom. Does it matter? Last year, Manchester international festival produced Monkey: Journey to the West, by Damon Albarn and designed by Jamie Hewlett. It proved a great success on its premiere, and the Royal Opera House hired it in this summer. Again, in London it was a huge success, with sell-out performances and new audiences tempted in to Covent Garden. Next month, it will start a run at the huge O2 in London. It recalls the kind of success that opera had in Italy in the late 19th century - when operas such as Pagliacci and Cavalliera Rusticana first hit the stage. Compared with even the success of Thomas Adès's chamber opera, Powder Her Face, which has been revived endlessly in the decade-and-a-bit since it was written, or his... [read full story]