Mason

NI Opera's excellent new Verdi production went straight to the heart, while Royal Opera's Strauss revival failed to ignite.

As Jeneba’s cellist brother Sheku [told the ](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/04/sheku-kanneh-mason-cellist-interview-last-night-proms) [Observer](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/04/sheku-kanneh-mason-cellist-interview-last-night-proms) a fortnight ago, the family had planned to split, half going to the Albert Hall to support him at the Last Night of the Proms, the other half to south London to support her. In addition, Northern Ireland has the lowest arts spending per capita in the UK (£5.31 compared with £10.03 in Wales). [Salome](https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/salome-by-david-mcvicar-details?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=salome&utm_term&utm_content=txt_76/07/2022_mktg&gclid=Cj0KCQjw94WZBhDtARIsAKxWG-8VHGVPM8gHY11GQCzl8-FPFYhDN38BG7ZZmmBCoPLuwzcj3A_iSrwaAtq6EALw_wcB) (1905), an opera suppurating with regal corruption, nubile sexuality and messianic decree. In her first Violetta, [Siobhan Stagg](https://siobhanstagg.com/) has a lightness of voice, sinewy and focused in the coloratura, every note hitting the gleaming centre, without strain or error. Dalayman, physically and vocally imposing, matches her stage daughter’s gorgon stare, managing to convey the many unspoken conflicts in the role: anger and revulsion, horror and maternal pride. The company’s annual grant of £650,000 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Opera had loaned members of its chorus to boost numbers (alongside Belfast’s Priory Singers) for the royal ceremony, the cathedral having [sacked its own excellent choir and music director](https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/belfast-cathedral-choir-disbanded/), in a cloistral blunder worthy of Trollope, just weeks ago. Ellen Mawhinney, who recently won NI Opera’s young opera voice of the year award, brought character to the cameo role of Annina. You may recognise the name. [Noah Stewart](https://www.noahstewart.com/) is a stage natural, able to convey every painful gradation of emotion, from sorrow to anger, with minimal gesture, ringing top notes and a lower register glinting with baritone inflections. Lang kept the pace swift but never lost touch with the music’s heartbeat pulse. [Frank Matcham’](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2020/may/17/mr-theatre-the-marvellous-playhouses-of-frank-matcham-in-pictures)s magnificent 1895 theatre since it reopened last year after a £12m restoration, this Traviata was deftly cast, impressively sung, perceptively conceived and direct in impact, no mean feat.