The Music Academy of the West has unveiled its 2024 Summer Festival, which runs from June 12 – August 13, 2024. Here is a rundown of the vocal performances on offer. First up is the Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners Recital featuring baritone Navasard Hakobyan and pianist Brian Cho. They will perform a world premiere by Joel Thompson, among other {…}
The Academy of Vocal Arts will present “Jubilate! A Concert of Sacred Music” this March. The showcase will feature music by Mozart, Händel, Dubois, Bellini, Dvorák, Rossini, Bizet, Puccini, Wagner, Clysedale, Lofton, Carter, and Verdi. Performers include Emily Margevich, Kevin Godínez, Manli Deng, Shawn Roth, Luke Norvell, Lydia Grindatto, Angel Raii Gomez, Dylan Gregg, Matthew Goodheart, Ethel Trujillo, Ariana Maubach, {…}
Boston Opera Collaborative will present “La Tragédie de Carmen” this April. The 90-minute retelling of one of the world’s most iconic operas, will be presented at Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge. Ken Yanagisawa will conduct a 15-piece chamber orchestra in a production directed by Alexandra Deitrich. Limor Gaash stars as Carmen with Patrick Starke as Don José, Sarah Cooper as {…}
The YouTube series “Classic Explained” has been relaunched with a series of new episodes. Among them is a look at Bizet’s “Carmen.” The 17-minute video explores the famed opera using a recording featuring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna from 2003. “We’re a YouTube channel that digs into the stories behind the great works of classical music, and explores what inspired {…}
Maine’s Hogfish has unveiled its 2023 program slate. The company will showcase “Harmonies of diversity” which includes new works by women of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and French-Canadians. The showcase will star such artists as Matthew Anchel, Aj Paramo, Performance Dates: July 7, 2023 “Latinx Perspectives” will feature Rachel Hurtado Dunbar, Amelia Rose Estrada, Gabriel Hernandez, and Cynthia {…}
Conductor Louis Langrée once explained the ‘Opéra-Comique’ in these terms: “The Opéra-Comique comes from fairground theater, which is its strength.” Looking at the company’s many successes in bringing great operas into its repertoire—“Pelléas etMélisande,” “Mignon,” “Manon Lescaut”—, it seems that Langrée is right. “Carmen,” however, would at first appear to be a bit different. It is, by far, the most {…}
Paris Opera’s “Carmen” staging was sold as the same production staged last November, yet everything was different. Adding one or two gestures here and there can almost completely change the characters’ psychology. Calixto Bieito’s staging remains impressive and provocative. He emphasizes the importance of true meaning to the detriment of the exploitation of empty forms. The impact of such a {…}
Films based on opera often feel inadequate. They are frequently an attempt to introduce reality into art, and this concept is flawed. Directors fail to realize that what it should be is the other way around: bringing art into reality, making opera about human beings and their everyday trials. Luckily, some directors do know what they’re doing, and Italian director {…}
The Royal Opera House has announced additional online programming available for audiences to stream during the holidays. Subscribers of Royal Opera House Stream can enjoy access to two different versions of Bizet’s “Carmen.” The first is directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Jakub Hrusa, featuring Russian mezzo Anna Goryachova in a staging which includes rarely-heard music omitted by Bizet. {…}
Ensemble Clavecin will join forces with Ensemble Cochléa to present a Christmas Concert at the Crypt of St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montréal. Scheduled for Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m., the showcase will feature baritone Hugo Laporte and mezzo-soprano Rose Naggar-Tremblay as they present old French hymns and Christmas songs from different countries. Audiences will hear music from such composers as {…}
This review is based on performances on Nov. 15 & 18, 2022. In every opera house, there is always an informal smoker’s meeting outside in the entr’acte. It is the best place to “feel the mood” of how an opera performance is being received. Hence, I am there solely for journalistic reasons, and nothing more. On this occasion, I went {…}