Tuesday’s much-anticipated opening night staging of Birtwistle’s “Gawain,” was interrupted 20 minutes into the performance when a stage manager came out to announce that a number of pieces of equipment were not working properly, and request a 30-minute recess to try and wrestle it back to order. “What was striking was the brazenness with which the young stage manager interrupted the singers and orchestra and the matter-of-factness with which he announced that Covent Garden’s much-vaunted new technology had failed yet again.” – BBC Music Magazine