Hera Protopapas

Baroquestock. King Arthur

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Baroquestock Festival
Purcell: King Arthur
Istante Collective, Matthew Brown, Natalie Coury
Heath Street Baptist Church, Hampstead. 10 May 2016

Under the title of “Possible Planets, Musical Spheres”, the latest annual Baroquestock Festival has been bringing the crowds into Hampstead’s homely Heath Street Baptist Church, notably for two performances of Purcell’s King Arthur. The original was first performed in May 1691 in the form of the very English Restoration genre of semi-opera, combining a spoken play with a series of musical masques at intervals during the play, reflecting aspects of the play, but usually without any of the principal roles of the play. Although it is usually performed just as a musical suite, this innovative production included enough elements of the spoken text and action to get a feel of a 17th century performance, aided by some impressive acting from the five singers, and real acting and narration from Christopher Hunter and dance from Tamra Hinson.

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HGO: Monteverdi – Poppea

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Monteverdi: Poppea
HGO, Seb Gillot, Ashley Pearson
Jacksons Lane. 15 November 2025


Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea explores themes of power, ambition, greed, intrigue, toxic relationships, vengeance, moral decadence and, viewed with modern eyes: mental health. Busenello’s libretto adopted a relaxed approach to historical facts in a manner that would likely result in several lawsuits if the protagonists were still alive to launch them. The events of seven years are compressed into a single day’s action and the characters are adapted to suit the plot. which, shorn of direct historical relevance, allows a focus on the characters and their interaction with each other. Much about the opera is conjecture, including how much of it was actually composed by Monteverdi. It was his last opera, and was first performed in Venice shortly before his death in November 1643. A revival in Naples in 1651 was the last known performance until the late 19th century. It is now considered as one of the most important 17th-century operas. Following HGO’s well-reviewed 2017 production, this was a new staging, directed by Ashley Pearson with musical direction from Seb Gillot.

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