The old mantra of never working with children or animals evidently doesn’t hold much water at The Grange Festival – on stage in Act I of are several of the former and one of the latter (Florence the cavapoo), all immaculately drilled. Some might apply the same rule to singers too, but an opera company doesn’t have much choice. And besides, all are on superb form in Tchaikovsky’s Pushkin-inspired work. Among the cast are three Russians and a Ukrainian,as Herman and former Cardiff Singer of the World winner Andrei Kymach as Count Tomsky. Anush Hovhannisyan, from Armenia, is an intensely moving Liza and, making her Grange Festival debut at a mere 82, Josephine Barstow holds us all spellbound as the Countess.
