The story of Gioachino Rossini’ Il barbiere di Siviglia (The
Barber of Seville) is based on Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’1775 play, Le barbier de Séville.
Tristan has been a fairly frequent visitor in Genoa over the past sixty years (post WW II). Tullio Serafin conducted the Isolde of Maria Callas there in 1948.
Richard Eyre’s production of La traviata is so beautiful that it can be watched repeatedly, yet still yield pleasure. But appearances, however splendid, aren’t quite enough to make a completely satisfying evening.
Listeners who have appreciated Gerald Finley’ stylish and moving
singing of baritone roles in operas by Mozart and other composers will be
pleased with the recent CD release of Great Operatic Arias in English.
Expectations were running high for the opening night of Elaine Kidd’
revival of Laurent Pelly’ production of Donizetti’ mad-cap romp,
La Fille du regiment — almost as high as Tonio’ infamous
top Cs.
It’ glorious and it’ gripping; it’ grand — and
it’ good! Indeed, Jake Heggie’ Moby Dick,
premiered by Dallas Opera in its handsome new Winspear Opera House on April 30,
is a work that restores meaning to basic vocabulary made banal by overuse
through the decades.
Star born through stutter? It’ immediately obvious that Jacques Imbrailo’
Billy Budd at Glyndebourne is an extraordinary portrayal. His stammer is more expressive than speech.
At the Wigmore Hall, performers can chose daring repertoire, because audiences there are unusually receptive. Florian Boesch and Malcolm Martineau presented Schubert and Hugo Wolf with Zemlinsky and Ernst Krenek.
Recorded live at the Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia”,
Valencia, this new video of Richard Wagner’ Das Rheingold
is based on the staging of La Fura dels Baus, with Carlus Padrissa, stage
director, and featuring an international cast conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Pick the word: soupçon? snippet? tidbit? quark? to describe the infinitesimal bite of Wagner bestowed upon us by the Met this year — and we had to wait till the end of April, to boot!
London’ Wigmore Hall is one of the world’ great centres for art song. This recital, by Susan Bickley and Iain Burnside, specialists in the genre, showed that English language art song is alive and thriving.
Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face is back at the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House. It's a classic. Once again, Joan Rodgers sings the Duchess, supported by Alan Ewing, Iain Paton and the incomparable Rebecca Bottone, all in multiple roles.
Armida is fabulous. That is to say, the story is a fable. Rinaldo,
the very type of Christian warrior, is torn between his duty to lead the First
Crusade and the sensual ecstasies offered by the beautiful sorceress Armida.
“If you could take any one memory with you to eternity, which one would you choose?” In Michel van der Aa’s After Life several people meet in a waiting room.
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 05 24falseCenterfalseStephen Ballou is busy most of the year playing cello in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He started his summer "vacation" by playing a recital this at the Landes Arts Center in Petersburg. He played music by J.S.
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 05 20falseCenterfalseLast night, a friend and I went to the mall to catch an opera the Metropolitan Opera HD broadcast of Armida by Gioacchino Rossini. The singing was beautiful, and the sets and costumes were imaginative. I don’t
The LA Times reports that tenor John Treleaven (Siegfried) and soprano Linda Watson (Brünnhilde) do not seem to enjoy Achim Freyer's production of the Ring at Los Angeles Opera. The first cycle opens May 29th.
LA Times | Ring Festival LA LA Opera
Opera Idaho and the Egyptian Theatre have teamed up to bring you online ticket sales. Which means you can order single tickets for all of Opera Idaho’s productions and concerts wherever you have access to a computer and the internet: at home, at work, on your Blackberry or IPhone. The convenience of online ticket sales also includes the ability [...]
From Fathom Events:
The Met: Live in HD – 2010 Summer Series
This summer, enjoy select encore performances from the award-winning series The Met: Live in HD
Encore presentations will take place on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM each time zone across the country. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the excitement of opera, captured live from the stage [...]
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 05 07falseCenterfalseOn the off chance that you're spending any time indoors now that it's spring (and a lovely spring it is), here are some fun classical distractions that have caught my attention recently NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, especially
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