(Photo credit: Hilary Scott) Last weekend, Symphony Hall was, on a generous account, less than two-thirds full. If you asked anyone why they were there, nine out of ten people would have said: “to listen to Bártok’s Castle.” The few others would be admirers of Alisa Weilerstein, who played the concert’s first half: Haydn’s c-major cello concerto. Chiaroscuro programing. Bartók’s {…}
(Photo credit: Keith Saunders) Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” has a bit of everything – part-serious opera, part-singspiel, part-burlesque, part-ritual. Music commentators often seem much exercised with how to categorize it. That thought arose while watching Kate Gaul’s new production of “The Magic Flute” on February 1. This was the third opera in Opera Australia’s 2024 summer season at Sydney Opera {…}
(Photo: Camilla Greenwell/Royal Opera House) Trailing draggily behind Puccini’s rue and jubilance, this season’s Royal Opera House revival of the tearful “La bohème” appears afraid of the work’s earnestness. Decked out in semi-mockeries of 1830s Paris, Richard Jones’ 2017 production favors episodes of bawdiness at the expense of the Bohemian; endangering its players’ vocal liberties. Perhaps as the result of {…}
(Photo Credit: Dagens Nyhter/Mattias Ahlm) On February 4, I had the pleasure of seeing Igor Stravinsky’s, “The Rake’s Progress,” for the first time. Having only read about the opera, I hadn’t come to realize how satirical Stravinsky could really be. Shostakovich and Prokofiev have been my references for the identity of Russian musical satire. Leading the Swedish Chamber Orchestra was {…}
(Photo: Catherine Hancock) Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) presented “Circles V: The Minnesota Connection” on Friday, February 2nd 2024 at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The program focused on works by Michael Djupstrom, Libby Larsen, Reinaldo Moya, and Dominick Argento. The pre-lecture before the program began featured Larsen and Moya discussing their works and the Minnesota connection. Larsen’s comments about her work, “The {…}
“Essence” is Marina Rebeka’s fifth solo recital on her very own label, “Prima Classic.” Although it was recorded all the way back in 2021, the album was released only last November; its program therefore does not reflect the soprano’s current engagements nor does it acknowledge her accomplishments in the French repertory. Instead, it presents like a best-of compilation, with arias {…}
Verdi’s “I Vespri Siciliani” was last on the stage in Naples back in 2011, featuring the original French version created by the composer for the Opera de Paris in 1855. This year, however, Teatro San Carlo is showcasing the Italian rendition, which is more commonly performed in Italy, without the ballet sequences. The narrative, crafted by Eugene Scribe’s libretto, revolves {…}
(Photo: Michael Brosilow) Fresh from a Metropolitan Opera premiere last spring (and its subsequent Grammy Award victory), Terence Blanchard’s first opera in jazz, “Champion,” enjoyed its Lyric Opera of Chicago premiere in James Robinson’s vivid and effective staging, a co-production on January 27th, 2024. A dazzling cast led by Justin Austin as Emile Griffith made a powerful case for repeated {…}
(Photo: MoniQue) Composer Marius Binder and librettist Robert Prosser see their new opera, “Lorit,” as a modern version of the mediaeval mystery play, in which allegorical figures embodying present-day values and behavioral traits are used to educate the audience. The plays were re-enactments of well-known religious stories containing issues that would have weighed upon the mediaeval mind, such as The {…}