• Predictions 2026

    1. A rocky road to the enthronement of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
    2. Further turmoil and scandal in the Anglican Episcopates of the United Kingdom.
    3. No progress for those hoping for Equal Marriage in the Church of England.
    4. More talk about the Quiet Revival which will continue not to show up in denominational statistics.
    5. Success for BBC Farage TV as Reform make great gains in the May elections
    6. Despite its record in government, the SNP get about 60 seats in the new Scottish Parliament.
    7. Because of its record in government, the Labour party gets terrible results and there is an attempt to remove Keir Starmer as leader.
    8. Despite its record both in and out of government the Democratic Party does well in the November elections in the USA.
    9. Stock market has another volatile year but ends up on this year, but not by much. FTSE is 9,931 at the start of the year.
    10. 2026 is the hottest year ever recorded.

6 responses to “Dialogue des Carmélites”

  1. Moyra Avatar
    Moyra

    Mmmmm now you’re giving me ideas!

  2. Rev Ruth Avatar

    Oooh, I have that on CD and haven’t listened to it for ages. Love that chopping sound!

  3. kelvin Avatar

    I was told that some kind of scaffold had been rigged up offstage complete with block and tackle to provide the definitive thud as nun by nun, they fell to the floor.

    The stage was littered with dead nuns by the end.

  4. david Avatar

    It is a real shocker at the end. Liked Poulenc’s music, and the singing was good (Monday performance).

  5. Jonathan Ensor Avatar
    Jonathan Ensor

    Attended the performance on Thursday. Particularly liked the voices of Mere Marie(Elysia Leech) and the Father Confessor(L’Aumonier), James Geer.

    Tim Dean led the performance admirably and there was hardly any poor casting although obviously with a student performance some were better suited to their roles than others.

    James Geer is to be singing the Male Chorus in Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” at Aldeburgh-a favourite opera of mine with the Pagan story offset and contrasted with the choruses commenting from a Christian perpective.

    It was good to see(at a distance) Donald Maxwell and Linda Ormiston in the foyer before the performance, both professional singers of some distinction. I remember them both from Good Shepherd Chorus performances at St Mary’s years ago.(Donald Maxwell sang the baritone part in a performance of Elgar’s “The Light of Life” and Linda Ormiston, who studied maths at Glasgow Uni and singing with the late Winifred Busfield who taught me, sang the alto part in Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody under Christopher Seaman.

    The staging of Dialogue des Carmelites was very effective and succeeded in conveying most of the pathos of the final scene without gross exhibitionism, which would have made it unbearable to watch.

  6. John Woodhouse Avatar

    It’s a great work – saw it at ENO.

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