The Czechiest features of The Bartered Bride – cornerstone of Czech opera and the first to go international after premiering in 1866 – are in the music rather than the story or setting. No accident: ...

The opening production of Garsington Opera’s 30th-anniversary season finds the festival at the top of its game. The Philharmonia – one of the world’s leading orchestras – is in the pit, with conductor ...

SOME dislike The Bartered Bride because Vasek is a comic character with a stammer. Not right to laugh at people's handicaps, they say. But you could argue that to present him as a sympathetic ...

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Bedrich Smetana described ...

Sarah Scott finds The Bartered Bride at the Theatre Royal Newcastle entertaining and a good introduction to opera for newbies Opera North kicked off the latest season at the Theatre Royal with The ...

For a man who is having a triumphant winter - incarnating a heart-rending Captain Vere in the English National Opera Billy Budd, and starring as the sweetly halfwitted Vasek in Covent Garden's ...

Although in The Bartered Bride Smetana largely avoided the direct quotation of folksong, the music he composed was considered to be Czech in spirit, meaning that he succeeded in his aim of creating a ...

As one of The Lowry’s partner companies, Opera North always mix their touring programme to bring something well-loved and something less well known. ‘The Bartered Bride’ is a perfect introduction to ...