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Review of Der fliegende Holländer, directed Khan, conducted Ridley, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 2024.

November 2024, Volume 18, Number 3, 82–4.

Persona Arts’ production of Der fliegende Holländer at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire set out to be different. First, eschewing traditional all-black attire, the musicians of the Central England Camerata and their leader Anna Downes were clad in an array of beige, tan and sandy brown linen shirts, evoking the image of a band of sailors. The lack of a traditional set did not detract from the audience’s experience; on the contrary, the production cleverly made the most of the natural features of the Bradshaw Hall. The room’s wooden acoustic panelling evoked the deck of a ship, while lighting bars were lowered to suggest the yards of a sailing vessel.