Simplicity writ large: Iphigénie en Tauride makes an impact at English National Opera without impeding the glories of Gluck’s music

Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride – Nick Pritchard, Jacques Imbrailo, Christine Rice – English National Opera, 2026 [Photo: Helen Murray]

Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride; Christine Rice, Jacques Imbrailo, Nick Pritchard, Morgan Pearse, dir: Lyndsey Turner, cond: David Bates, English National Opera; London Coliseum
Reviewed 6 November 2026

Supple vocal lines, powerful suppressed emotions & modern classical style: Lyndsey Turner’s production of Gluck’s final masterpiece is never overdone and allows the principals to shine

English National Opera’s current season has something of an uncompromising, contemporary streak to it, what with Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone dividing critics [see our review], and a new Tosca (review to come next week) paired with Kaija Saariaho’s challenging Adriana Mater (to come later this month). 

So it was with some trepidation that we went along to see the premiere of English National Opera‘s first ever production of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride at the London Coliseum on 6 November 2026, directed by Lyndsey Turner, a director best known for her theatre work but who directed Noyes Fludde in 2019 for ENO at Stratford East. David Bates conducted (making his ENO debut) with Christine Rice as Iphigénie, Jacques Imbrailo as Oreste, Nick Pritchard as Pylade and Morgan Pearse as Thoas. Designs were by Soutra Gilmore with lighting by Tim Mitchell.

The work was performed in its original French, which undoubtedly helped the fluidity of the singers vocal lines but few managed to get the words across in the London Coliseum (we were sitting at the rear of the stalls).

Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride – Christine Rice – English National Opera, 2026 [Photo: Helen Murray]

Thankfully Turner and Gilmore had not tried to do anything with the opera, there was no attempt at creative dislocation. Gilmore’s setting was abstract, relying mainly on Mitchell’s lighting (at the first night there was a problem and Morgan Pearse had to re-start Thoas’s first aria and perform much of it in gloom). The costumes for the women were classically styled and draped whilst the men were in contemporary dress, though this contemporary element was not pressed. Turner introduced elements of the daily life of the priestesses (sweeping, washing etc.). There was no choreographer and no danced element. The biggest innovation was that during Oreste’s Act One vision the Furies were off-stage and we saw two children playing the youthful Iphigénie and Oreste, and these two reoccurred to trouble Pylade in Act Three.

The opera begins with a storm and here David Bates and the ENO Orchestra went all out with the percussion. But after this Bates drew a strong performance from the orchestra, concentrating on sculptural lines and fluid beauty. The orchestra has an important role in the opera and Bates ensured that there was as strong presence throughout.

Christine Rice made a subtle and beautifully modulated Iphigénie, her character drawn in a long arc from the opening moments – when she dreams of her mother killing her father, Oreste killing her mother and then Iphigénie herself killing Oreste – and the closing scene when she is forced to sacrifice Oreste. Her moments of trouble and despair were profound yet never overly dramatic, Rice relied on the suppleness of the line and gentle colour. This was a performance which might have told better in a smaller venue, there were moments in the first couple of acts when her voice did not quite rise above the power raised by Bates and the orchestra. But this was a cumulative performance, and one that relied also on Rice’s interactions with the other members of the cast. Here she triumphed, with her cool professional disdain for Morgan Pearse’s Thoas and his bloodthirsty desires, and most importantly in the scenes with Imbrailo’s Oreste. One innovation that Gluck and his librettist made to Euripides’s original was to delay the recognition scene to the end, so that for most of the opera Rice and Imbrailo made the two’s interactions crackle with suppressed energy.

Imbrailo made a powerful Oreste, troubled and intense but never overly dramatic. Imbrailo brought a fine combination of strength and flexibility to Oreste’s vocal lines. Oreste is deeply troubled, and Imbrailo brought this out without ever overdoing things. Oreste longs for death, yet Imbrailo highlighted how Oreste’s visions were intertwined with the presence of Rice’s Iphigénie. The opera is notable for the lack of any love interest, yet what has happened is that Gluck and his librettist focus on the intense friendship of Oreste and Pylade. It is worth noting that at the premiere Pylade was played by the Paris Opera’s leading haut contre who had sung the title role in Orphée et Eurydice.

Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride – Nick Pritchard, Jacques Imbrailo – English National Opera, 2026 [Photo: Helen Murray]

The libretto makes much play of with the word ‘Amitié’, and even in a conservative reading the relationship between Pylade and Oreste is queer-coded. Some productions lean into this [for example at Blackheath Halls Opera in 2025, see my review] and even if you don’t an element of queer-coding comes over. Turner, Imbrailo and Pritchard seem to have come up with a solution which resembled a 1950s Hollywood film where the relationship was clearly queer-coded without every being explicit [at Blackheath, Danny Shelvey and Michael Lafferty kissed a the end]. And frankly, the opera does not make sense otherwise.

Imbrailo and Pritchard made the relationship very intense, as each character struggled with the other to be the one that died! Like Imbrailo and Rice’s scenes in the opera, those of Imbrailo and Pritchard fairly crackled with unexpressed emotion. It was clear that this Pyldade was in love with Oreste but perhaps did not acknowledge it.

Prichard brought great lyrical beauty to the role of Pylade making the vocal lines float magically. Pritchard is a modern lyric tenor and as such brought modern tenorial solutions to the challenge of a haut contre role. He was never clarion, relying on sheer beauty and expressiveness (and it is worth remembering that Pritchard is an Evangelist par excellence in Bach’s Passions).

At the very end, Turner had the three principals, Rice, Imbrailo and Pritchard, sitting close together in and intimate family group as the chorus thundered around them.

Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride – Morgan Pearse, Katey Rylands, Sophie Goldrick – English National Opera, 2026 [Photo: Helen Murray]

Morgan Pearse was a very civilised Thoas. Besuited and modern, he managed to be threatening without being too uncouth (though his fellow Scythians all carried weapons). There was something of the modern gang boss about him, implying violence without ever being explicit. It helped that Pearse was able to make his powerful baritone respond to the flexibility needed for Gluck; as a singer Pearse’s repertoire ranges impressively from Handel to Puccini’s Scarpia [for Opera Holland Park, see my review]

The remaining roles were all well taken, these are more stand-out chorus roles than big solos but Olivia Rose Tringham, Amy Holyland, Sarah Gilford, Robert Winslade Anderson and Paul Sheehan made their moments tell whilst keeping in the mood. The only misstep was to have the role of Diana at the end sung by the young girl playing the youthful Iphigénie (Lucy Barton and Zoe Houghton sharing) and this was amplified which disturbed the balance of the performance.

Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride – English National Opera, 2026 [Photo: Helen Murray]

In an ideal world ENO would have performed Iphigénie en Tauride in a smaller theatre, this is a work that demands relative intimacy. Instead, they were giving just four performances in the London Coliseum. Thankfully Lyndsey Turner did not try to fill the space with colour and movement, instead she, David Bates and their cast drew a finely shaped yet strongly projected musical line. This was simplicity write large.