Tenor Adrian Dwyer's role and house debut as Andrei Khovansky in Welsh National Opera's new production of Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, directed by David Pountney and conducted by Tomáš Hanus, has won critical acclaim:
“Australian tenor Adrian Dwyer also gives a career-defining performance as his venal son Andrei, singing with real blade and incisiveness, and as repellent in his early mistreatment of the two women in his life as he is sympathetic in his final agonising journey to the place of execution.”
(Katherine Cooper, Bachtrack *****)
“The cast, too, sing wonderfully. For the Khovanskys (a superbly afflicted Robert Hayward and brutish Adrian Dwyer), ecstasy and perversion elide as their plot against the Tsar unravels.”
(Steph Power, The Stage *****)
“Robert Hayward and Adrian Dwyer play the appalling Khovansky father and son; … All of them offer strongly characterised and vocally vivid portrayals that inhabit a bold and vigorous staging evoking the tragic period in early Soviet history during which the brief liberations of Leninism rotted into the repressions of Stalinism.”
(Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph *****)
“The young Prince Andrei is given a wellspring of sympathy by tenor Adrian Dwyer as he cleaves to the light and shares his doom with Sara Fulgoni's Marfa.”
(Whats On Stage ****)
“And there is a series of fine supporting vignettes: ... Adrian Dwyer as the viciously libidinous Andrei Khovansky.”
(Stephen Walsh, The Arts Desk ****)
“As his son, Prince Andrei, Adrian Dwyer was convincing as a self-serving, spoiled young man, quite without scruples.”
(Glyn Pursglove, Seen and Heard International)
“Adrian Dwyer as Prince Andrei and Sara Fulgoni as Marfa sang sweetly.”
(Colin Davison, British Theatre Guide)
“The cast is well-balanced and secure in their roles with a powerful Robert Hayward and Adrian Dwyer singing Khovansky father and son prince Andrei.”
(Arts Scene in Wales)
