2002 – Ariadne auf Naxos – Strauss

An interesting choice for an opening salvo, as Strauss’ opera has a small orchestra and consequently lighter scoring, so there really is nowhere to hide. Pappano paced the work to perfection, described in these pages as ‘a great Straussian performance, at once sharp and lyrical’, adding ‘this augurs well for the future’. Christof Loy’s complex production set the piece in a Park Lane triplex, complete with lift, and the cast included a scintillating Zerbinetta, Marlis Petersen, and the intense Composer of Sophie Koch, who between them stole the show from under the nose of Petra Lang’s turgid Ariadne.

2005 – Die Walküre – Wagner

An early Wagner performance sums up the energy and passion that Pappano generally brought to the composer. Keith Warner’s production of the Ring was unfolding opera by opera, but this particular evening was unusual as it was a Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, so the variable visuals were abandoned for an intense concert. Lisa Gasteen enjoyed a career triumph as Brünnhilde alongside Bryn Terfel’s Wotan, in peak form; and Plácido Domingo and Waltraud Meier brought the house down as the Wälsung twins. I saw the preceding performance in the Royal Opera House and the ovation at the end of the first act was thunderous. The Prom was televised and you can find it on YouTube. Complete cycles in 2007, 2012 and 2018 developed Pappano and Warner’s readings, but this Walküre packed a unique punch.

2006 – Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk – Shostakovich

A relative rarity at the time, the machinations of Lady Macbeth had already transfixed London audiences in the Eighties and Josephine Barstow’s Katerina was a hard act to follow. So Pappano’s working relationship with soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek was all the more appreciated, a baton passed. The jagged and descriptive scoring proved catnip to the conductor, and the singer gave her considerable all in her house debut as she pitted herself against John Tomlinson’s ghastly father-in-law. It was a night of stunning theatre that lingers in the memory.

2006 – Le nozze di Figaro – Mozart

Pappano once confided to Opera Now that ‘if I’m rehearsing Figaro I’m the happiest man in the world’, and that feeling really comes across in this performance of the opera in David McVicar’s detailed production that manages to be both sun-drenched but enquiring. It is available on film, so enjoy Miah Persson and Dorothea Röschmann throwing class restraints to one side and outwitting Gerald Finley’s Count, involving Erwin Schrott’s Figaro along the way. The conducting has real lift and warmth and everything bubbles along perfectly.

2011 – Anna Nicole – Turnage

While not completely convincing everyone either for its taste or music, Turnage’s opera about the doomed centrefold model Anna Nicole Smith provided Westbroek with another complex female character to inhabit. It was perhaps too soon after Smith’s untimely death to take a balanced view and there was a queasy exploitative quality to the concept. But Opera Now commented on Pappano’s ‘pace and verve’ as he led the orchestra through the often pastiche score, music upstaged by its own libretto. Ultimately it was a valiant example of creating a contemporary opera that spoke to a new public and it certainly gained much media attention.

2011 – Il Trittico – Puccini

Representative of Pappano’s excellent work with Puccini, Il Trittico gave him a chance to shine thrice. Perhaps the greatest moment is the middle opera, Suor Angelica, which Pappano conducted with some rigour, eschewing sentimentality, a characteristic also present in Richard Jones’ ascetic direction and Ermonela Jaho’s broken protagonist. Much Puccini has been essayed by Pappano, most recently a critically acclaimed Turandot both live and recorded.

2012 – Les Troyens – Berlioz

Pappano has more time for French opera than many conductors, and Les Troyens is a mountain worth ascending for its many glories along the way. I considered Pappano’s conducting to be ‘beautifully shaped...the benefits of a well-oiled machine, performing challenging repertoire without the risk of routine’. David McVicar’s production was huge, glamorous and at times slightly aimless. The singing was mixed, with Anna Caterina Antonacci’s Cassandre idiomatic but small-scaled, Westbroek’s Didon proving more the opposite, and the comet-careered Bryan Hymel providing tenorial thrills as Énée. Pappano’s spinning of Act 4 proved almost other-worldly.

2016 – Norma – Bellini

Norma remains a rare excursion into bel canto for Pappano, Rossini notwithstanding, and I commented on his ‘musical sensitivity’ in a production at times low on that quality. Àlex Ollé’s staging mixed stunning visuals for Act 1 with a banal Act 2. Here Pappano also nurtured another soprano, Sonya Yoncheva, who had made her name as a stand-in at Covent Garden and here rose to that challenge again, replacing Anna Netrebko and taking the title role. Her long phrasing and secure legato were supported sensitively by Pappano’s conducting. I wish he had delved more into this world.

2019 – La forza del destino – Verdi

La forza del destino will have to stand for all of Pappano’s superb Verdi conducting over his tenure. Christof Loy’s production never rose above efficient and a superstar cast threatened to jostle for position, as black market tickets went for thousands of pounds. Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier battled it out operatically, but it was Netrebko on top form who stole the singing honours. Forza is often described as sprawling, and Pappano made as much sense of it as I have heard in live performance.

2024 – Elektra – Strauss

Another Loy staging, bringing everything full circle, as it was Pappano’s last new production as music director. Yet again there was a split-level element to the stage, with characters descending from ‘above stairs’ to interact with Elektra in the courtyard below. Nina Stemme was obviously ailing but sang the premiere, providing sumptuous tone with an unfortunately compromised vocal top. Aušrinė Stundytė jumped in for the next three performances, making a successful house debut: all enough to give a conductor a conniption. ‘Bold yet detailed’ was my verdict, but Stemme’s indisposition dampened proceedings slightly. 

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Opera Now. Never miss an issue – subscribe today