Donizetti's Roberto Devereux
The Independent
'Although Donizetti's gripping re-telling of the Elizabeth-Essex saga is based on the Queen of England, there were two stars in Buxton Festival's Roberto Devereux. Mary Plazas sings Elizabetta, displaying her versatility as a singing actress in this bloody tragedy. But in the role of Sara - the unfortunate "other woman" locked in to the geometry of passion, jealousy, fate and revenge - Buxton allowed itself luxury casting in Susan Bickley. Both shine: Plazas successfully (and seemingly effortlessly) negotiates her virtuoso role with its range, ornamentation and - in the closing "Vivi, ingrato" - expansive yet restrained emotion. Bickley not only irradiates her role with pathos and subdued passion; she performs regally.
Andrew Greenwood, the festival's new artistic director, draws authoritative playing from the Northern Chamber Orchestra, and, under Stephen Medcalf's direction, this magnificent razor-sharp Roberto Devereux - sung in Italian - lacks nothing in intensity.'