Andrea Chénier Reviews

"Martin Lloyd-Evans's production for Opera Holland Park, carefully deploying a mixture of naturalism and symbolism, probes its depths with chilling precision. The set is dominated by an enormous guillotine, which intermittently crashes down with a nauseating thud. Lloyd-Evans's treatment of the protagonists is wonderfully acute, never more so than the scene in which Olafur Sigurdarson's Gérard comes face to face with Katarina Jovanovic's Maddalena for the first time in years and instinctively falls to his knees like the servant he once was… As Chénier, John Hudson sings with.. fiery passion… Jovanovic is moodily intense… Sigurdarson, though, is as fine a Gérard as you will ever hear, his voice both effortless and appropriately gritty, his acting superlative. Peter Robinson's conducting often attains a quality of nightmarish intensity. Strong stuff, and highly recommended."
Tim Ashley, The Guardian

"Katarina Jovanovic (Maddalena) gives a risky, exciting performance, and Olafur Sigurdarson is tremendous as the jealous baritone who comes between the lovers. With a host of superb cameos and some gutsy conducting from Peter Robinson, it's absolutely worth seeing."
Warwick Thompson, Metro

"This rousing finale is another coup for Opera Holland Park in a season that has delivered with great charm and professionalism. Peter Robinson conducts with tremendous sweep, style and sureness: this is music whose busy two-bar phrases can drive you mad unless the conductor and singers can find a line through them, and that happens triumphantly here. Oli Sigurdarson as the tormented Gérard holds things together in a spellbinding performance. Martin Lloyd-Evans’s production is good on the febrile atmosphere, part terror, part elation, of heady revolution. Such operatic electricity that only the dullest dog wouldn’t weep like a girl."
Robert Thicknesse, The Times

"Giordano’s barnstorming score, with its tale of the fate of a poet in the French Revolution, can still bring an audience to its emotional knees - given the right ingredients. Holland Park, fortunately, has discovered them. Leading the show is the Chenier of tenor John Hudson, who maintains high-voltage Italianate singing all the way through… Katarina Jovanovic as Maddalena, her no-holds-barred vocalism…  Further vocal thrills are provided by Olafur Sigurdarson… who brings the house down with ‘Nemico della patria’… Carole Wilson, who is comprehensively excellent… Richard Suart’s skilled double-act as Fleville and Fouquier. Martin Lloyd-Evan’s staging makes exciting use of the chorus and paints in the instability of the times with a sure hand. Peter Rice’s designs also offer full period value. Conductor Peter Robinson galvanizes proceedings from the pit and the result is a genuinely rousing evening of verismo opera, sung and played to the hilt."
George Hall, The Stage

"But all three (Hudson, Jovanovic, Sigurdarson) sang good and loud, flinging themselves into the maelstrom, and with the help of a strong supporting cast, Peter Robinson's ardent but unhysterical conducting, and Martin Lloyd-Evans's unobtrusive staging, the performance worked a treat."
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph

"The production is immaculately designed by Peter Rice, with Giordano's music powerfully projected by conductor Peter Robinson. English tenor John Hudson is a stalwart Chenier, Icelandic baritone Olafur Sigurdarson is memorable as Gerard and Katarina Jovanovic is in glorious voice as Maddalena."
David Fingleton, The Sunday Express

"Opera Holland Park finished its season triumphantly… From its opening images of the guillotine, this production matched the rousing melodrama of the libretto with full-blooded gusto… Played to the hilt by cast and chorus under the direction of Martin Lloyd-Evans, backed by the evocative designs of Peter Rice… John Hudson and Katarina Jovanovic.. their intensely passionate love duet set the blood tingling… Olafur Sigurdarson… was the evening's show stopper…Carole Wilson gave convincing life to two roles… Able support was provided too by Richard Suart (also in dual roles), Robert Burt as the foppish spy, L'Incredible, Richard Burkhard as Chenier's steadfast friend, Roucher, and Heather Shipp as the ill-fated maid Bersi. The orchestra under Peter Robinson gave a spirited account of Giordano's score in this engrossing climax to another mostly laudable season from what has become one of London's most enterprising and rewarding musical companies."
Tom Vallance, What's On

"Martin Lloyd-Evans's production chillingly conveys the horror of the revolution, with the aid of decor - Peter Rice once again - which is dominated by an enormous guillotine. The tenor John Hudson brings fierce passion to the role of Chenier, and Olafur Sigurdarson, a baritone from Iceland, is equally impressive as the servant Gerard. The stylish conductor is Peter Robinson."
Charles Osborne, The Jewish Chronicle