The Guardian Culture
Royal Opera House, LondonBellini’s tale of Roundheads vs Cavaliers requires vocal gymnastics on an Olympic scale. Lisette Oropesa rises effortlessly to the challenge in Richard Jones’s detailed new productionForget Puccini and Nessun Dorma: the right opera composer for a World Cup has to be Bellini. The extreme high notes, the agility, the endurance involved as the singers spin endless melodies before firing off vocal curlicues like a gymnast swinging round and round the bars – it’s the closest