More than a gala for Milan and for Italy, this wonderful Don Giovanni at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, was a gala for all the world, broadcast live internationally.
At one point in The Met’s history, Faust was performed so frequently that one critic in mocking reference to Wagner’s opera house at Bayreuth coined the theater Faustophilhaus.
Brad Mehldau seems to be the “go to” jazz pianist for classically trained singers who want to venture into other musical territory than opera and lieder.
I have somehow managed to miss Sir Colin Davis’ London performances of L’nfance du Christ, making it one of the final major Berlioz works I have heard in the flesh.
Founded in 1984, the Basel Chamber Orchestra has developed a penchant for
programmes which combine the modern and unfamiliar with the traditional and
renowned.
War and destruction is everywhere these days, not least in Pesaro where Graham Vick staged a lethal Mosé in Egitto last August, nor less so in San Francisco where baritone Thomas Hampson perished as Rick Rescorla in Heart of a Soldier last September.
The English Oratorio season at the Barbican Hall, London continued with Gerald Finley and two very different approaches to Belshazzar’s Feast — William Walton and Jean Sibelius.
This latest instalment of Ian Bostridge’ ‘ncient and Modern’series juxtaposed the tender melancholy of the Elizabethan age with the modernist anxieties of the early twentieth century, revealing both a sensitivity to textual nuance and profound human sensibilities which transcend temporal epochs.
Jean-Philippe Rameau, an organist and music theoretician, was active for much of his life in musical centers distant from the cultural juggernaut of Paris.
This performance of La Traviata was the 454th at the Royal Opera House, and the first performance in the 3rd revival this season of Richard Eyre’s production.
In contrast to much music-making on the continent, English composers born in the last quarter of the sixteenth century seem to have embraced a notable degree of stylistic continuity.
Perhaps it’s no accident that Graham Vick’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg returns to the Royal Opera House for the Christmas season. Red, green, gold, sumptuous colours that warm a long, grey evening.
Combining innate musicianship and superb technique, Anne Schwanewilms showed once again that she can run the emotional gamut from light-hearted joy to deep anguish in this flawless performance with pianist, Charles Spencer.
Richard Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos presents challenges in casting not only because of the vocal line and identity associated with individual characters but also because of its nature as a self-comment on the musical stage and the requisite dramatic skills thus needed.
This year is a big year for the Met. Of the seven new productions on the roster, two are the last two installments of a much-anticipated Robert Lepage Ring.
For the first hour or so of the latest Opera Orchestra of New York venture, a concert performance of Wagner’s Rienzi, I often said to myself, This…isn’ so terrible.
Repeatedly revived since its final appearance in 1995, Jonathan
Miller’ Così fan tutte returned yet again to the Covent Garden
stage as the second part of the ‘lympic’cycle of Mozart-Da Ponte
collaborations.
Introducing the winter-spring season, ROH Chief Executive Tony Hall explains the (perhaps a tad spurious) Olympic ‘concept’ which has inspired the season’s programming, the five interlocking rings of the Olympic insignia motivating the performance of a series of works staged in ‘cycle form’.
Hugo Wolf is a hard sell. Technical expertise isn't enough. The secret to singing Wolf is expressing the unique personality in each song. Wolf, perhaps more than any other composer, creates miniatures that open out into mini-operas when performed well.
A year or two back, Opera Lafayette, the Washington-based company that
specializes in eighteenth-century obscurités françaises, presented
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny’ Le Magnifique, an
opéra-comique about a race horse.
In Wilhelm Weitsch’s well-known painting of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, the eldest son of Johann Sebastian seems far distant from the cantorial world of his father.
Homage could take diverse forms in Counter-Reformation Rome, and this excellent recording by ensemble officium, Messa di Santa Cecilia, focuses on a particular instance that was interestingly polyvalent.
Composed during the spring hunting season of 1684, for a patron and performance venue unknown, Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s brief six-scene Opera de Chasse (‘Hunting Opera’), Actéon, has remained seldom performed and something of a mystery.
: The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed Notes On About SF Opera's Future Seasons How Standing Room Works Official Blogs of West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Vancouver Opera Richard Egarr conducts PBO Main January 29, 2012 Salome at San Diego Opera Notes Yesterday evening's opening performance of the 2012 season at San Diego Opera was Salome . Seán Curran's production pictured left with Irina Mishura as Herodias and Lise Lindstrom as Salome , photograph by Ken Howard was seen in San Francisco two years ago , with the same sets and costumes designed by Bruno Schwengl , and elegant lighting by Christopher Maravich . There were some differences from the earlier performances in 2009, most notably in Salome's
Beethoven is continuing his exploration of Utah. Do you know where he is now?
Leave your guess in the comments, and be entered to win a pair of tickets to Beethoven's Fifth! Contest will close Thursday at 3 PM.
October 19 - November 10 2012: La bohème October 26- November 11 012: L'italiana in Algeri January 18- February 10 2013: Show BoatJanuary 25- February 10 013 Don Giovanni April 18- May 5 2013: Tristan und Isolde April 6- May 11 013: Il Trovatore
Details on the Season | <a href="http://www.houstongrandopera.org/"Official Site
I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with baritone Guido LeBrón about Rigoletto, and I was fascinated by how he perceives each of the facets of Rigoletto's character, and how that personality is displayed through his singing. Hope you enjoy it as well!
: The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed Notes On About SF Opera's Future Seasons How Standing Room Works Official Blogs of West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Vancouver Opera Dallas Opera's 2012-2013 Season Main January 22, 2012 Enchanted Island Live in HD Met Simulcast Notes The Metropolatian Opera's new Baroque pastiche , The Enchanted Island was shown as a simulcast yesterday . The English libretto , created by Jeremy Sams uses characters from Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream and The Tempest Arise , ye subterranean winds from The Tempest , or , The Enchanted Island which has been attributed to Purcell , was the only piece from this work . The score starts off with the overture from Alcina and
Utah Symphony | Utah Opera invites community musicians to take part in our first annual Symphony Pro-Am. Adult amateur musicians can apply online for an opportunity to play the 4th movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in a side-by-side performance with Utah Symphony musicians and conductor Vladimir Kulenovic on ...
About eight months ago, the Pulitzer Prize for music was awarded to Chinese-American Zhou Long for his opera Madame White Snake. Sadly, two weeks ago came the surprising announcement that the Opera Boston, the ensemble that premiered Long’s opera, would be shut down due to a budget deficit in the “tough economic climate.” The news [...]