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Archive
  2008 Idomeneo tour
"A sustained delight. Neil Jenkins in the title role and Rachel Nicholls as Elettra were immense"  Argus
"Conductor Nicholas Jenkins tirelessly sustained both dramatic momentum and rhythmic buoyancy and the 40 strong chorus rose to its big moments impressively." "As Idamante, Flora McIntosh was a Mozartean model of expressive and musical integrity." Opera More...
  2007 Tobias and the Angel tour
"A cast of eight really good singers under the baton of Nicholas Jenkins... the singing was powerful and moving... the music was often beautifully lyrical and smooth and with much reference to music of the Middle East."
Mike Howard, Argus
  2004 Falstaff tour
"My lasting impression will be the sheer joy that the whole cast showed in giving us a performance full of fun and good humour."
"Sheer delight to hear and to see." 
Argus
  2003 Lucia di Lammermoor tour
"A large audience's enthusiasm was understandable. Suzannah Clark scored a personal triumph as Lucia" "imaginative touches by director Michael Moxham" "Bruno Cinquegrani conducted with true Italian flair." Portsmouth News
  2001 L'Elisir d'Amore tour
"A colourful and vibrant production that is dazzling to the eye and the ear" "splendid young singers" "the music is wonderfully done" "Jonathan Butcher produces all the sparkle and drive that make this production so energetic, so deftly done and so thoroughly satisfying." Argus
  1999 Cavalleria Rusticana & I pagliacci tour
"Musically rewarding, and an atmospheric production"
The Independent
"Beautiful singing in an altogether dramatic and moving performance." Opera
  1998 Boris Godunov
British première of Shostakovich orchestration: John Tomlinson's first Boris sung in Russian.
  1997 Danton's Death von Einem
British première

"A bold undertaking, one cannot praise it enough."
The Independent
  1996 The Enchantress Tchaikovsky
British première, Brighton Festival and Snape Maltings. "This production showed up strengths in the opera one never dared believe were there: Act 4 was transformed on stage into a climax of wild melodramatic power." Opera
"David Angus draws playing of great passion from the orchestra."
The Guardian
  1995 Euryanthe tour
"A meticulously well conceived, quality production - effects of striking simplicity with evocative minimalist sets, haloes of light and silhouette. Chorus work distinguished by superb clarity and verve."
The Stage
  1995 Count Ory tour
"An evening of delightful entertainment"
The Stage
  1992 The Rake's Progress
"A Rake with plenty of high-tech fizz. A pro-am opera triumph." Telegraph
  1991 Lost in the Stars by Weill 
British professional première

"Top drawer Weill, in a brilliant set by Spyros Coscinas"
Evening Standard

Alliance & Leicester Award for best Brighton Festival event.
  1990 Tannhäuser (Paris version)
"This enterprising company has pitted itself against one of the mightiest hurdles in the repertory and scored a thundering success. More than that, Keith Warner's staging stands head and shoulders over almost all other British Wagner productions of recent years." Opera.
"Brighton's Tannhäuser is a miracle. The unfolding of the music and the fine accompanying of much impressive singing added up to an authentically cumulative Wagnerian thrill. The eroticism is brilliantly suggested." The Guardian.
"Quite outstanding, the best Wagner in the country this season and the best Tannhäuser I have seen since Wieland Wagner's Bayreuth production in the early 1960s. Lionel Friend's conducting of the lavish score was magnificent, as was the orchestra. Lionel Friend made the religious music tell impressively while the Venusberg was both brilliant and gorgeous. "The chorus were disciplined and exciting and helped Lionel Friend build up to an overwhelming culmination at the end, something that was magically moving. NSO achieved something remarkable by any standards." Wagner News
  1989 Faust
"Faust runs with both the raunchy emphasis and the infectious buzz of musical theatre; a rattling good show."
The Independent
  1988 The Flying Dutchman
"Opera in the Dome can work triumphantly." "In the last act, an extraordinary coup." "If the staging alone could offer lessons to many a major house (remember the Royal Opera's attempt to mount the work?) the performance too was as good as any I have encountered." Music and Musicians
  1987 A Masked Ball
"The singing of soloists and chorus alike bore NSO's stamp of careful preparation and musical understanding."
Financial Times
  1986 Aida
"This Aida presents a distinguished contrast to some of the recent offerings in our national opera houses."
Daily Telegraph
  1985 Benvenuto Cellini
NSO's first production in the Dome
"Brighton's gleaming Cellini, an exciting and brilliantly conceived production."
The Times
  1984 Andrea Chénier
"Unusually for this work, an hour after curtain down, one felt that one had seen not an empty husk, but real theatre."
Daily Telegraph
  1983 Il trittico
Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi -

Gardner Centre
  1982 The Threepenny Opera
Gardner Centre
  1982 The Queen of Spades
"Gripping music theatre. NSO deserves admiration and support."
Arts Review
  1981 Peter Grimes
(directed by Nicholas Hytner)
"The big choral scenes as overwhelming dramatically as they are vocally."
Financial Times
  1980 The Fairy Queen
All Saints, Lewes & Royal Pavilion, Brighton
  1980 Boris Godunov (original version)
NSO's first Brighton Festival production.
"Brighton's stage presentation added up to the single most convincing Boris I've had the good fortune to see."
Music and Musicians
  1979 Venus and Adonis
All Saints Lewes
"Excellent vocal achievement married to a convincing professionalism in production."
Mid-Sussex Times
  1979 Fidelio
Lewes, Horsham and Worthing
"Bravo! A new talent is born. The professionalism on stage is immediately apparent."
Argus
  1978 Founded Lewes