Winnipeg music lovers were willingly transported back several centuries as
Daniel Taylor and Montreal-based Theatre of Early Music graced Westminster
United Church with a program of infrequently heard music.
February 7, 2012. Italian conductor Nicola Luisotti, the popular music director of the San Francisco Opera, has been appointed to the same position at the historic Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
In his memoirs, Five Thousand Nights at the Opera, Sir Rudolph Bing, general manager of the Met from 1950 to 1972, discusses the Met’ move from 39th street to its current home at Lincoln Center.
When Captain Ahab sailed the Pequod into San Diego this week, he brought a new American opera with him. Jake Heggie’ Moby-Dick is a stunning work likely to have universal appeal.
It might have reminded some in the audience of the finale of Wagner’s
“Götterdämmerung.” Saturday evening, during the finale of that same composer’s “Das Rheingold” at the Staatstheater in the German city of Darmstadt when a large section of the scene fell and shattered on stage.
In its current revival of Giuseppe Verdi’ Aida Lyric Opera of Chicago approaches the challenges of the ambitious score with a cast well suited to the music and to the drama.
Who says Italian opera is in the doldrums? Contrary to all the recent budget bad news from the country that invented the form, the dramatic new 150 million Euro ($200 million) opera house in Florence projects another view.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that an interesting opera production will be met with incomprehension and lazy, philistine hostility by vast swathes of the audience in many, perhaps most, of the world’s ‘major’ houses, a truth that renders one all the more grateful for the Royal Opera showing the courage to stage this new — to London — production of Rusalka.
Recorded on 14 June 1964 at the Großer Saal of the Musikverein, Vienna, as part of the Wiener Festwochen, this legendary performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde was released in 2011 on Deutsche Grammophon.
Henri Sauguet is not entirely unknown in opera circles — divas Regine Crespin, Felicity Lott, Nathalie Dessay and Leontyne Price have included his arias in their solo albums. Plus there is a recording of his 1954 opera-comique Les Caprices de Marianne.
One of the guiding principles of the revisionist (if not intervisionist) school of opera directing commonly called “regie-theater” is that certain outdated dramatic conventions in the librettos of many great operas can actually interfere with a contemporary audience’s ability to perceive the true artistic worth of the work of art.
Is there somewhere in Italian opera repertory where, as a comic interlude, the portentous clichés of German opera come in for a skewering amid the luscious sunshine of Italianate lyricism?
Based on performances given on 2 and 3 March 2011 (at the Barbican, London), Valery Gergiev’s recording of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is an engaging and persuasive reading of the score.
Inaugurated in 1995, the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition is a triennial competition, held in the National Concert Hall in Dublin, which takes place over a week in January.
Modern and historic responses to classical tragedy and myth formed the unifying focus for this latest stage of Ian Bostridge’ year-long ‘ncient and Modern’project at the Wigmore Hall.
Last night’s French classical music awards show, the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2012, awarded the “Best Composer of the Year” honors to Philippe Manoury, 59, for his opera, “La Nuit de Gutenberg” (“The Night of Gutenberg”).
The magic was in the pit, not that all Monaco was not magical — on January 25 a yellow Lamborghini, a red Ferrari, a vintage Jaguar among other magnificent machines stood before the entrance to Monte-Carlo’s resplendent Casino cum transplendent 500-seat opera house.
In today’s edition of the Viennese newspaper, “Die Presse” a reviewer gushes over Roberto Alagna’s recital yesterday evening at the Vienna State Opera.
Friday, February 17 was a great day at USUO! We were extremely honored to go up to the state capitol building and receive recognition from the Utah Senate and House of Representatives in honor of "contributions and service to the people of the state of Utah." This was also our ...
Another Beethoven concert approaches! The lucky winner will receive two tickets to this weekend's performance of Rachmaninoff and Beethoven - Beethoven and Andre Watts on the same program!
Just leave a comment identifying where Beethoven is by Thursday the 16th at 4 PM. A winner will be chosen at random, and ...
Right now is a super busy time for us - the next Utah Opera season was announced on Monday, Utah Symphony season will be announced this coming Monday the 6th, and Deer Valley will be announced Thursday the 9th! Soon we'll be sending out information on renewing your season tickets, ...