And Caliban’s “isle is full of noises” aria (particularly well sung at this performance by Christopher Lemmings, replacing an indisposed Ian Bostridge) was a highlight

(Ian Bostridge) was replaced by the fresh-voiced lyric tenor Christopher Lemmings

Le récit de Caliban, superbement interprété par le tenor Christopher Lemmings, est soustenu par un tapis de cordes, ponctué de longs accords qui permet à la voix de donner toute son expressivité.

Caliban est campé avec une efficacité discrète par Christopher Lemmings

Christopher Lemmings, qui avait dejà remplacé Ian Bostridge pour certaines soirées à Londres, connaît le potentiel de sympathie qu’il y a chez le monstre Caliban.

Le tenor Christopher Lemmings est un Caliban extrordinaire, prenant son envol dans la seconde scène de l’Acte II. La voix, utilisée avec art, déploie une expressivité notable.

De même ce sont les airs de Caliban, role écrit sur mesure pour Ian Bostridge et fort bien repris ici par Christopher Lemmings, qui s’avèrent les plus émouvants de l’opera, peut-être parce qu’ils sont magnifies par la qualité d’un soutien orchestral d’une beauté devenant subitement enivrante. Parcours inégal donc, mais investi de bout en bout, et qui remet beaucoup de prétentions à leur place, à défaut du chef d’oeuvre inattaquable attendu

Le solide Caliban de Christopher Lemmings.

Chez les interprètes, de vrais tempéraments emergent, comme Toby Spence, Christopher Lemmings ou l’incroyable Cyndia Sieden

"Tenor Christopher Lemmings’ enunciated performance as the stroppy prince was fabulous".

The lyric tenor, Christoper Lemmings has perhaps more of a pedigree in that he appeared in both Adès The Tempest and Maw Sophie’s Choice, both on the main stage of the Royal Opera House. His diction was superb and he imbued the character of the Prince with amazing dynamism and something of the character of a Shakespearian mechanical. It was when he was singing that I discerned a link between Bedford’s writing and that of his distinguished predecessor, Sir Harrison Birtwistle in Punch and Judy or Down by the Greenwood Side.

As the Prince, Christopher Lemmings showed what an excellent character actor he was, the tantrum levels of this spoiled brat were just about right, highly agitated without being over the top – and a touch of the Victor Meldrew (see photo). He displayed little pleasure during ingestion, as if afflicted with a twentieth century complaint, compulsive food disorder. Becoming aware of his situation there was pathos too as the ‘supermarket’ ran dry. Inevitably the waitress broke down in tears. With his plate empty, the prince sees his own reflection in his silver platter. It was not a pleasant sight.

Highlights of the night included a stunning performance from soprano Rhona Mckail (1st Angel/waitress), accompanied by superb acting from Christopher Lemmings (above) as the gluttonous, difficult and demanding prince.

The singers — Stephen Wallace (Pleasure), William Purefoy (Truth), Christopher Lemmings (Beauty), Roderick Williams (Deceit) and Stephen Richardson (Time) — all showed a remarkable ability to project themselves as dramatic agents amid the musical rowdiness, and they were all rock-solid musically, a tremendous accomplishment on its own.

Virtuose, équilibré, le quintette approche la Perfection: Christopher Lemmings (Beauty) est un ténor nuancé

Christopher Lemmings made solid work of Beauty, bringing a lyrical touch to the busy vocal line

Christopher Lemmings as Barry's Beauty sings to match (his) title

The performance from Christopher Lemmings, widely admired in so many modern operas, has total authority and conviction.

It is the later set of seven Auden Songs, finished in 1989, that seems the more coherent achievement here, containing a couple of settings of deep, searching intensity; to which tenor Christopher lemmings gives full weight.

(The cycle) for solo voice and piano trio, by composer Ned Rorem display a sensitive response to words and thrilling vocal lines which mesh perfectly with the inner meaning of the poetry. The seven songs are given impassioned treatment by tenor Christopher Lemmings.

Christopher Lemmings' voice is light and clear, with superb diction

These are extremely fine performances of genuine commitment and respect: Rorem could hardly have cause for complaint. Christopher Lemmings in particular has plenty of chances to soar in the testing Auden songs - all the way to a top C in 'Yes we are going to suffer. ...this is music or genuine interest and considerable potential appeal in performances which are unlikely to be bettered on record for some time.'

My ideal Gerontius needs a full, rich tone but above all the intelligence to respond minutely to the text. In this performance I found him. Christopher Lemmings has beauty of tone, power and the theatrical response needed for the text.

Tenor Christopher Lemmings created a convincing character, growing broader in expression and negotiating some perilously high passages with admirable stamina.

Christopher lemmings was also suffering from a bug, but nonetheless he displayed a masterly technique as he phrased and delivered the verse. Sometimes he was truly chilling too: in "I go before my Judge..." for instance.

Christopher Lemmings sang the poetic texts with a voice both tender and bitter that really touched the heart

Against the big set pieces, Owen's words project their painful home truths on an intimate, person to person basis. Soloists Christopher Lemmings and Erik Sohn understood this exactly, and the fact that one is British, the other German, gave added depth to lines like: "I am the enemy you killed, my friend"

Einen ausgezeichneten Eindruck hinterließen die Solisten. Erik Sohns geschmeidiger Bariton und der leicht anspringende Tenor seines Partners Christopher Lemmings ergänzten sich ganz wunderbar. Beiden gelangen hingebungsvolle Ausdeutungen der Dichtungen von Wilfred Owen, die Britten mit dem Text der lateinischen Totenmesse kombiniert hat.

Particulièrement réussie, la scène de la vente aux enchères est dominée par la prestation de Christopher Lemmings, Sellem de haut vol (Particularly successful, the auction scene is dominated by the performance of Christopher Lemmings, high-flying Sellem)

Le commissaire-priseur Sellem de Christopher Lemmings est d’une belle présence plus démoniaque que notre diable du jour (Auctioneer Sellem by Christopher Lemmings is a beautiful presence more demonic than our devil of the day)

la diction anglaise précise de Christopher Lemmings pour le commissaire-priseur Sellem (the precise English diction of Christopher Lemmings for the auctioneer Sellem)

En Sellem aux allures de vampire, Christopher Lemmings réussit une composition mi-amusante, mi-inquiétante. (In vampire-like Sellem, Christopher Lemmings manages a half-amusing, half-disturbing composition.)

le commissaire priseur de Christopher Lemmings, formidable en artiste de cabaret expressionniste (the auctioneer of Christopher Lemmings, formidable as an expressionist cabaret artist)

Christopher Lemmings en Sellem sont au diapason. Ce dernier crée, avec une émission d'un grand naturel, une improbable silhouette de Nosferatu-commissaire-priseur puisque désormais tout est à vendre, même les âmes. (Christopher Lemmings in Sellem are in tune. The latter creates, with a program of great naturalness, an improbable silhouette of Nosferatu-commissioner-auctioneer since now everything is for sale, even souls.)

l’avidité mordante du Sellem de Christopher Lemmings (the biting greed of the Sellem by Christopher Lemmings)

Death is not in Puccini’s cast list. But in Visser’s production, which plays on any number of film references from The Seventh Seal to Meet Joe Black, he is on stage so much that it’s almost a surprise that he doesn’t get the final curtain call. Can the others see him? Mimì can, once she accepts her illness; Rodolfo can’t, yet he glances over his shoulder as if he senses something is there. The opera becomes something other than – arguably more than – a story of youth and doomed love. And Visser’s gamble pays off: it is riveting.It helps that Christopher Lemmings is such a magnificently magnetic presence, silent except for when he assumes the brief role of Parpignol, the toy-seller whose half-dozen notes usually go almost unnoticed; here he is doling out red balloons that you suspect might have strings infused with cholera. Those balloons are a rare spot of colour against the black and grey of Jon Morrell’s costumes and Dieuweke Van Reij’s set, a blank-walled street stretching back into dark nothingness.

It’s rare to encounter a staging that presents the world’s most popular opera in a radically different way… I was transfixed by Floris Visser’s production! And not just by the bold unifying idea of Mimì being silently stalked by the figure of Death from start to finish, but also by the superb stagecraft deployed to ensure that this sour-faced, overcoated figure (superbly mimed by Christopher Lemmings) was subtly sinister rather than a naff, horror-film ghoul.

Visser has added a character into the mix, the black-clad Death, visible only to Mimi, who silently stalks her throughout the piece. Played by tenor Christopher Lemmings, the role of the toy seller Parpignol is incorporated into his character, and the red balloons he hands out to the members of the children’s chorus are a stark contrast to the mostly monochrome design, and a haunting reminder that death will, eventually, come to us all. Another clever use of colour, and a particularly macabre moment, comes in the final bars of Act 2. Rodolfo and Mimi have pledged to stay together throughout the winter and part in spring, when the flowers return. As death retreats over the cobbles, Lemmings slowly pulls a dust sheet off the stacks of chairs, revealing them to be adorned with beautiful bright pink flowers. What should be a symbol of life and rebirth is eerily transformed into a haunting omen of the opera’s ensuing tragedy.

The stalking figure is played by Christopher Lemmings, who also takes the small role of Parpignol, the toyseller at the Café Momus. That’s no coincidence: one of the most moving moments is when Mimì looks longingly at Parpignol handing out toys to the children, as if to plead for the gift of life.

It’s a monochrome world disrupted only by Mimi’s pink beret. the red balloons of the toy seller Parpignol, sung with a virtuosic intensity by lyric tenor by Christopher Lemmings, and the pink flowers that presage Mimi’s inevitable fate. Death is also played by the emistable Christopher Lemmings, this time in a non-singing role seemingly channelling horror maestro Peter Cushing, Mimi is stalked by this sombre figure throughout the whole piece, eventually walking off with him to the back of the stage as she dies unnoticed whilst her friends manage their grief.