Specializing in the performance of Wagner operas, the London Opera Company forges ahead in a concert performance of Siegfried at Sinfonia Smith Square, London.

Jean de Reszke as Siegfried (c. 1896)

Wagner: Siegfried; Colin Judson, Brad Cooper, Simon Thorpe, Stephan Loges, Thomas D Hopkinson, Louise Fuller, Harriet Williams, Cara McHardy, conductor: Peter Selwyn; London Opera Company at Sinfonia Smith Square
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 2 November 2024

London-born conductor, Peter Selwyn, conducted Wagner’s Siegfried in a performance dedicated to Ben Thapa who sang Siegmund in Die Walküre last year. He sadly passed away earlier this year. 

A strong and formidable cast witnessed Australian-born tenor, Brad Cooper, in the pivotal role of Siegfried (he’ll be reprising the role for Grange Park Opera’s upcoming new Ring cycle starting in 2026) while Cara McHardy and Simon Thorpe took the roles of Brünnhilde and Der Wanderer with Colin Judson (Mime), Stephan Loges (Alberich), Thomas D Hopkinson (Fafner), Louise Fuller (Der Waldvogel) and Harriet Williams (who sang Fricka in Die Walküre) Erda 

A ‘not-for-profit organization’ the London Opera Company (LOC), founded in 2020 to give opportunities to performers who lost work through the pandemic, goes from strength to strength. Therefore, in October of the same year of the company’s formation, LOC presented its inaugural performance: a sold-out and rapturously received chamber performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at The Warehouse in south-west London. Gaining confidence, momentum and strength, they carried on and performed a chamber version of Die Walküre in July 2021 to another delighted audience of Wagner aficionados who filled St John’s, Waterloo, for the performance.  

Success breeds success, of course, and come 2022, LOC moved onward and upwards delivering a critically-acclaimed account of Tristan und Isolde at Sinfonia Smith Square (the coming together of two much-loved London-based organizations: Southbank Sinfonia and St John’s Smith Square) featuring Neil Cooper (Tristan) and Cara McHardy (Isolde).  

And returning to the same venue in 2023, LOC produced a well-received semi-staged performance of Die Walküre featuring the much-celebrated mezzo-soprano, Sarah Pring (Roßweiße), vocal coach for Sky Arts’ ‘Anyone Can Sing’. She was joined by Ben Thapa as Siegmund and rising soprano, Philippa Boyle, as Sieglinde, conducted by LOC’s extremely talented and trusted music director, Peter Selwyn, who has a strong background in classical music and opera especially when it comes to Wagner.  [see Robert’s review]

He keeps good company, too, as in the past few years Selwyn has assisted Finnish-born conductor, Pietari Inkinen, on Bayreuth’s current Ring cycle directed by Valentin Schwarz which, incidentally, has its last outing next year. He also worked on Richard Jones’ Royal Opera House Ring conducted by Bernard Haitink (his first big bite of Wagner) as well as Keith Warner’s Ring conducted by Antonio Pappano. 

And while holding the post of Kapellmeister and Head of Music at the Staatstheater Nürnberg from 1999 to 2005, Selwyn conducted so many well-known and well-loved operas such as Peter Grimes, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Carmen, La Bohème, Orfeo ed Euridice, Iphigénie en Tauride and Hänsel und Gretel plus all the major Mozart operas. What a tally! 

Strong credentials, indeed! But Selwyn had a good grounding. He studied at the Mannheim/Heidelberg Hochschule für Musik while studying piano with Geoffrey Pratley and Michael Dussek at the Royal Academy of Music and conducting with David Parry – and still found time to read Modern Languages at St John’s College, Cambridge. 

Therefore, LOC’s welcome return visit to Sinfonia Smith Square with Siegfried, conducted by Selwyn, greatly expands the company’s Wagnerian repertoire and, indeed, helps to fulfil the company’s overall vision and driving ambition of delivering Wagner operas to a wide-ranging and diverse audience geared to a high and exacting standard obtainable, may I add, at affordable prices. The cost of tickets ranged from £40 to £70. Not bad, eh! 

In the first act of Siegfried, it’s really Mime’s game. And the person taking on this smarmy and unprincipled character, Colin Judson, delivered an excellent account of the role playing the good and faithful guardian of Siegfried in a loving and tender way trying to dupe him, of course, to gain the ring and the powers thereof. And portraying the vulnerable and unworldly character of Siegfried fell to Australian-born tenor, Brad Cooper, who absolutely shone in the role of the Young Hero in an effortless and compelling performance. 

Full of energy and high spirited, too, he barged into Mime’s workshop from a foray in the forest clutching a bearskin taunting and confusing his suspicious and distrustful guardian to utter distraction while acting in that naïve and youthful way that the role demands. And when it came for him to forge his father’s shattered sword, Nothung, a makeshift smithy quickly appeared on stage as if by magic and after a few taps here and there Nothung appeared – but only in my imagination. However, Wagner said that ‘Imagination creates reality.’ Indeed, it does! 

And the character in Siegfried always lurking in the shadows, Der Wanderer, was strongly and confidently sung by Australian-born baritone, Simon Thorpe, smartly adorned by a crimson-coloured waistcoat whose tête-à-tête with Mime became a frosty affair. And when the unlikely deuce engages in the ‘riddle’ competition, in which the loser forfeits his head, the stakes were high. Der Wanderer easily answered Mime’s three questions much to his annoyance and Mime knew the answers to his but threw in the towel on the last: who will repair the Nothung? 

The cast was greatly strengthened by German-born bass-baritone, Stephan Loges, as Alberich, appropriately attired in black. His performance clearly punctuated one of the darkest roles of the opera while Nottingham-born bass, Thomas D Hopkinson, put in an excellent performance as the giant Fafner sporting a sassy metallic-looking dark-pink designer jacket showing off his wealth and taste holed up in his Cave of Envy, his voice growling deep and deeper in defiance of his unwelcome visitors.  

The point when Siegfried kills him thereby overcoming fear proved a simple exercise: Brad Cooper simply rushed across the stage in a spirited and carefree manner and with a single blow Fafner was gone. And helping Siegfried to reach Brünnhilde, Louise Fuller took flight singing the role of The Woodbird from the auditorium’s balcony offering a lovely and tender performance truly capturing the spirit and movement of a bird in full flight.      

And highly annoyed by Der Wanderer interrupting her deep sleep, Harriet Williams (working without a score) delivered a strong and fulfilling account of Erda (the Earth-Mother) lambasting her irritating visitor who was dithering all over the show in his crowded and confused mind desperately seeking worldly advice from the one who sees and knows all. But when she denies him his request, he arrogantly dismisses her to her secret world of sleep and dreams. 

But the pinnacle to the whole opera, Brünnhilde’s big awakening number, when she hails the sun and greets her conquering super-charged hero as the ‘World’s Light’ in ‘Heil dir, Sonne! Heil dir, Licht!’ found Cara McHardy (also working without a score) on terrific form delivering a ravishing and sublime interpretation of the Warrior Maiden beautifully adorned by long-flowing auburn hair resembling, I felt, a Pre-Raphaelite figure with Brad Cooper, a perfect partner. Both singers were at the height of their powers ‘firing’ the stage especially when jubilantly confessing their total love and devotion to each other in a riveting climax to bring the opera to a close. 

Comprising a core of highly-professional musicians and a coterie of hand-picked amateur players augmented by a host of highly-talented and ambitious students from London-based music colleges, Maestro Selwyn and his players of the London Opera Company Orchestra, admirably led by Kathy Shave, produced a tonal quality that was solid and well balanced, never overshadowing the singers but capturing so well the romantic spirit of Wagner’s intense and beautiful writing. Wagner wrote for big forces, too. He wanted a big sound and the orchestra was expanded by using the Royal Opera House’s famous Wagner horns helping to achieve the authentic Wagnerian sound. 

The stage presentation was basic by utilizing discreet colour-wash lighting effects highlighting the beauty of the Corinthian-style columns wrapped round the performing space. Therefore, green represented the forest scene in act one, blue represented the dragon’s cave with red reserved for the final act – Brünnhilde’s burning rock.  

However, I think it’s fair to say that the singers who didn’t refer to their scores enjoyed more flexibility in their performance thereby engaging better with members of the audience while the exits and entrances of the performers could have been a bit more polished. For instance, some cast members regularly carried plastic bottles of water on and off stage. I found that slightly irritating – but it was, after all, a concert performance! 

The last word goes to Cara McHardy, co-founder of the London Opera Company with Harriet Williams: ‘Opportunities to perform the Wagner repertoire are rather limited so our aim is to create as many chances as we possibly can to engage with talented semi-professional singers and less-established singers whilst also encouraging mature singers who want to keep their careers a-going. Harriet and I are determined to keep the energy and freshness of LOC going and to this end we have just launched a bursary to assist young musicians.’ Bang on girls, you’re certainly heading in the right direction. I eagerly await Götterdämmerung in 2025 – the beginning of another worldly adventure! 

Conductor: Peter Selwyn
Siegfried: Brad Cooper
Brünnhilde: Cara McHardy
Der Wanderer: Simon Thorpe
Mime: Colin Judson
Alberich: Stephan Loges
Fafner: Thomas Hopkinson
Ein Waldvogel: Louise Fuller
Erda: Harriet Williams 
London Opera Company Orchestra. Leader: Kathy Shave