Name: L'Ormindo, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Start: 2014-03-25
End: 2014-04-12
Location: The Globe

If there is one set of Opera tickets that Culture Whisper has its eyes keenly set on for the 2014 season it would have tobe these: a fascinating period production of Cavalli’s 1644 opera, L’Ormindo is coming to London the hands of The Royal Opera House’s Director of Opera Kaspar Holten . Originally performed at the famed Teatro San Cassiano during the golden age of early opera in seventeenth-century Venice, L’Ormindo is today transported to the brand-new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for its inaugural season. A brand new venue located within Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is a historically faithful reproduction of a Jacobean theatre, complete with oak panelling and faithfully lit with hundreds of candles. If you tire of the gaudy interiors of Covent Garden, why not head over to the Globe at some point between the 25th March and the 12th April for something a little more refined and retro? Just try not to wear anything with flappy sleeves around all of those candles.

What	L'Ormindo, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Where	The Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London, SE1 9DT \| MAP
Nearest tube	Bank (underground)
When	25 Mar 14 – 12 Apr 14, 7.30pm
Price	£10.00
Website	Click here for more information and to book via the Globe

What the critics say

The Guardian

Musically, it's first rate , though Christian Curnyn conducting a small ensemble from his Early Opera Company orchestra, is more reined-in than one might expect after his recent, very blatant Handel at ENO. The cast don't put a foot wrong. Samuel Boden 's dreamy Ormindo is beautifully contrasted with Ed Lyon 's assertively sexual Amidas. Susanna Hurrell and Joélle Harvey sound terrific as Erisbe and Sicle respectively. You can't fault the servants. A more exquisite evening would be hard to imagine.'

The Evening Standard

'The star attraction of this production of Cavalli’s L’Ormindo is not the singers or even the conductor, the splendidly resourceful Christian Curnyn: it’s the venue. The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is the Globe Theatre’s indoor venue which opened in January. With bench seating arranged in pit and galleries, the Playhouse is timber-framed and lit by beeswax candles. It’s hard to describe it without resorting to clichés such as “exquisite jewel”.'

L'Ormindo, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

If there is one set of Opera tickets that Culture Whisper has its eyes keenly set on for the 2014 season it would have to be these.