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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

Stop pandering to purists, says Royal Opera House’s first black Otello

Russell Thomas as Otello with Hrachuhí Bassénz as Desdemona  at the  Royal Opera House
Russell Thomas as Otello with Hrachuhí Bassénz as Desdemona at the Royal Opera House: ‘I’m sure there have been black men [before me] that could have sung Otello.’ Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

It was heralded as a significant moment in opera history – after more than 130 years and 234 performances at the Royal Opera House, the titular role in Verdi’s Otello was finally performed by a black man.

Taking to the Covent Garden stage this week, the American virtuosic tenor Russell Thomas powerfully depicted the tragic fall of Shakespeare’s famous Moor of Venice, largely to critics’ delight.

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