Photo credit: Keith Saunders Opera Australia more than made-up for a recent spate of revivals with the world premiere at Sydney Opera House on July 11th of Damiano Michieletto’s production of Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman,” a co-production with Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Lyon, and Venice’s Teatro La Fenice. Michieletto’s arresting production of Rossini’s “Il viaggio a {…}
(Photo Credit: Jean-Louis Fernandez) Reviewing a new opera is always a hard task. Beyond the many difficulties of reflecting on an extremely elaborate piece of work, after only one or two hearings, there is also a major difficulty for the critic when addressing unavoidable questions like, “is the new work any good?” This often transforms itself into a more dangerous {…}
(Photo Credit: Monika Rittershaus) It is a minor cliché to stress how modernist avant la lettre George Büchner’s “Woyzeck” appears to be on a first reading. The play, written by a 22-year-old in 1836, reads today so close to its fellows in the early twentieth century that it seems only logical that the opera would come from the hands of {…}
(Photo Credit: Jean-Louis Fernandez) On the website of Aix-en-Provence Festival, the “Ballets Russes” is sold as a fully staged opera. Listing it that way, the festival director Pierre Audi is provoking the audience to see what opera can actually be beyond the screaming divas. Most times, Aix’s provocations pay off. In fact, it is part of the festival’s brand. In {…}
Credit: Teatro Real Teatro Real closes the 2022-23 season with 17 performances of Puccini’s “Turandot.” It is a revival of their own Robert Wilson production, which premiered at Teatro Real in 2018, featuring three different casts. The opera will be screened live in several squares all over Spain, will be shown on RTVE (The main Spanish Tv channel), and will {…}
Photo credit: Zani-Casadio The Ravenna Festival does not want for quality venues. In fact, it is able to boast access to some of the most stunning venues in Europe including the Byzantine masterpiece, the San Vitale Basilica, which dates back as far as the 6th century AD. Its visually stunning mosaic frescoes cover the walls and ceiling of the alter {…}
Photo: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Tristram Kenton Normally, ‘heritage’ productions make me nervous. The established stagings summon to mind lumbering Zeffirelli-esque spectacles and unwieldy, moth-eaten costumes. Opera houses resting on their artistic laurels, unwilling take artistic risks. The ingrained conservatism in the opera business that could even prove fatal for the art form. But, Peter Hall’s production of Benjamin {…}
(Credit: Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera) On June 19th, up and down Market Street in San Francisco, rainbows ruled the scene, as did live and recorded music. Every variation – hats, masks, sweaters, shoes, leggings, and floral wreaths braided the streets as the Gay Pride Parade intersected with the first-ever Spanish language opera to be performed by San Francisco {…}
Photo: Camilla Greenwell/Royal Opera House 2023 The Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House has been home to some of the most incisive and bracing opera happening at Covent Garden in recent times. Work there has been self-consciously political, physical and experimental. Most notable is Laura Bowler’s “The Blue Woman,” directed by Katie Mitchell, Oliver Leith’s “Last Days,” and “Least {…}