"It’s a superb production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s radical squib, where Kosky contrives to place his signature touches at the service of the satire rather than diluting it". ★★★★ Opera Magazine 

The Golden Cockerel is a satirical blend of Rimsky-Korsakov’s work and a century of Russian opera. The composer uses more outlandish elements of Pushkin’s story to create multiple comic situations, with nods and winks to Russian culture. By showing Dodon as a Don Quixote-like figure, suffering from oblomovism, Rimsky-Korsakov is mocking the Tsars. And by developing the Oriental theme – much more than Pushkin does – he is not just using the music to enhance the mysterious oriental princess’s powers of seduction: he is also introducing some echoes of the Russo-Japanese war and the beginnings of the Revolution. Unsurprisingly the Tsar of the time, Nicholas II, largely censored the work and Rimsky-Korsakov therefore never saw his final masterpiece performed. Australian director Barrie Kosky, who is both a Russian opera aficionado and a highly skilled stage director, can be trusted to bring all its symbolism and comic energy to the fore.