Dublin - December 2016

Bord Gais Energy Theatre
"Bring tissues for this emotional production."
"The Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow gives Puccini’s great tragic love story a super outing with major talent in the leads. Irish star Celine Byrne is sweetly powerful as Mimi. The effect of her singing the role as a dead person watching her life, whilst the role is occasionally mimed by an actress, has terrific theatrical power. Byrne is matched by tenor Aleksey Tatarintsev’s Rodolfo, both in acting and singing, who commands the stage and the air. Ekaterina Mironycheva as Musetta easily seduces both her former lover and the audience with her showgirly turn in the café scene. Only baritone Andrey Breus feels a little outclassed as the painter Marcello.
A super design job is done by Hartmut Schörghofer for director Georgy Isaakyan. A huge circle motif is put to brilliant use: as a clock; a view up the inside of the Eiffel Tower; a spiral staircase and a sky view. There is much play with perspective, and vertical surfaces are disconcertingly treated as horizontal.
Early scenes have a 1940s feel, but the art gallery of the final act has a Saatchi eighties aesthetic, with the pseudo elements cranked up, and the orchestra cued by a popping champagne cork.
See-through plastic sculptures litter the former bohemian space; a mock swordfight is conducted with dinner forks. Vitally Evanov as the philosopher Colline establishes the necessary tragic tone with his superb overcoat aria as he pushes the emotional range of his bass voice.
The minimalist emptiness of the gallery setting provides a highly effective canvas for the final tragic musical build-up. Bring hankies".
IRISH INDEPENDENT

"There is much to admire and a lot to enjoy in The Novaya Opera Theatre’s production of La Bohème: excellent singing, a fine orchestra, a set and costume design that are breathtakingly beautiful. One of opera’s “greatest hits” with beautiful aria heaped upon beautiful duet, the piece is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris, teeming with artists and would-be writers and philosophers, all striving for artistic expression or intellectual recognition, all struggling to survive. Into this exciting, if impoverished, world of warm hearts and louche communal living walks the poor seamstress, Mimi, unfortunately seeking love, stability and commitment. She is in the wrong place".
NO MORE WORK HORSE

"It needs to be emphasised, right from the outset, that both music and singing in The Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow’s production of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” border on the sublime. Indeed, close your eyes and you are utterly transported....Isaakyan does an outstanding job. Chief conductor, Jan Latham-Koenig and his orchestra are utterly sensational, bringing warmth, depth and texture to Puccini’s sublime music. ....the night truly belonged to sopranos Ekaterina Mironycheva, who as the vixen Musetta was a scene stealing delight, and Celine Byrne, as the deeply lonely, deeply loving Mimi. Performatively and vocally, both delivered outstanding performances, with Byrne’s solo’s being absolutely superb...A musically moving production".
THE ARTS REVIEW

London Coliseum - July 2014

Moscow State Opera
"There is nothing about the Moscow State Opera’s production that would not win widespread and profound admiration – as it clearly does at The London Coliseum."
THE STAGE