“… that rare thing: a modern opera that exerts an immediate emotional impact”
The Telegraph – Rupert Christensen
“… the most enthralling new operatic score I’ve heard for several seasons”
The Times – Richard Morrison
“… genuine lyricism, rich harmonies, and gorgeous orchestration”
The Stage – George Hall
“… the very stuff of opera”
The Observer – Fiona Maddocks
“…hugely likeable”
The Sunday Times – Hugh Canning
“It had vitality and brilliance. Unlike many new commissions for the opera stage, it worked”
International New York Times – Michael White
“It is remarkable that Langer’s music manages to keep pace with the stylistic somersaults of the plot, but it does. Tango, pantomime, impending doom, youthful romance: she brings all to life, using a modest-sized orchestra.
The Financial Times – Richard Fairman
“The riotous score is a swirling, transparent weave of operetta, cabaret, music hall and jazz… It’s bursting with irreverent joy”
The Times – Rebecca Franks
“Langer’s delicate, imaginative score traverses jazz and popular styles with aplomb”
The Stage – Steph Power
“entertaining, often comic”
The Guardian – Rian Evans
“Langer’s score is modern opera for those who think they don’t like modern opera”
Asian Review of Books – Peter Gordon
“Langer’s score indeed rumbled with atmosphere…”
Financial Times – Ken Smith
“The immediately striking features of Elena’s work are its playful counterpoint, a certain delicacy of texture, a delight in the sound worlds of instruments singly and in combination, a great facility with orchestral colour” Robert Thicknesse
“It’s nimble and light, sensual without forcing the point…”
The Guardian – Kate Molleson
“She can do sardonic astringency but also evoke surreal otherworldliness or romantic yearning. It all depends on her chosen texts to which she responds in meticulous details.”
The Times – Richard Morrison
“Elena Langer has turned Edward Lear’s The Dong with a Luminous Nose into an enchanting and uniquely organised 22-minute piece (…) Langer manages to uncover the sadness of lost love lurking beneath the poem’s whimsy.”
Richard Morrison, The Times
“… a very finely nuanced and effective drama…”
Christopher Woodley, Bachtrack.com
“Langer’s music is entertaining, laced with the same wry humour she exhibits in her wider demeanour”
Ken Walton, Vox Carnyx
“The Dong with a Luminous Nose is a thoughtful work perfectly capturing despair of a lost love lurking behind the jovial Jumbly nonsense”
David Smythe, Bachtrack.com
“…the orchestral soundscape glitters attractively throughout”
Simon Thompson, The ArtsDesk.com