Les Vepres Siciliennes, Royal Opera House, London
Royal Opera House, London: It seems extraordinary that a mature opera by Verdi should be receiving its first production at Covent Garden, but such is the case with The Sicilian Vespers, a major work first performed in Paris in 1855. The fact that the whole genre of French grand opera - vocally and orchestrally demanding, as well as expensive to stage - fell completely out of fashion accounts for this surprising negle…