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Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Vast Imagination – Directors Shawna Lucey & Michelle Ainna Cuizon on Bringing their Vision to Opera San José & the Opera World at Large

https://operawire.com/vast-imagination-directors-shawna-lucey-michelle-ainna-cuizon-on-bringing-their-vision-to-opera-san-jose-the-opera-world-at-large/

(Photo credit: Louis Chan / David Allen) What does the future look like for female directors in opera? Opera San José, the opera company in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, now entering its 41st season, gives OperaWire a look at two young trailblazers: the current CEO and General Director, Shawna Lucey, and Michelle Ainna Cuizon, presently in residence and {…}

Reviews

Handel and Haydn Society 2024 Review: Mozart & Michael Haydn’s ‘Requiem’

https://operawire.com/handel-and-haydn-society-2024-review-mozart-michael-haydns-requiem/

(Photo credit: Robert Torres) Sometimes we ought to live and let die twice in a night—or, perhaps, let die and then live twice? The Handel and Haydn Society’s (H+H) program is, in many ways, logical: Michael Haydn’s “Requiem” and then Mozart’s. There is much kinship between the pieces; however, even for the most skeptical of critics, it is hard to {…}

Interviews

Q & A: Evan LeRoy Johnson on How He Determines His Own Path by Listening to His Inner Voice

https://operawire.com/q-a-evan-leroy-johnson-on-how-he-determines-his-own-path-by-listening-to-his-inner-voice/

(Photo credit: Matt Madison Clark) Evan LeRoy Johnson is an American tenor who received the Barbara and Stanley Richman Memorial Award from the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he was a Gerdine Young Artist. He has performed widely in his home country and has made acclaimed debuts for numerous European opera houses, including Bayerische, Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zürich and {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Staatsoper Unter den Linden 2024-25 Review: Tosca

https://operawire.com/staatsoper-unter-den-linden-2024-25-review-tosca/

(Credits: Hermann und Clärchen Baus) Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca,” adapted from a play by Victorien Sardou, was famously criticized by American musicologist Joseph Kerman, who dismissed it as a “shabby little shocker” and predicted its swift decline from the operatic canon. Despite this, “Tosca” endures as a favorite among audiences, thanks to Puccini’s brilliant music and masterful orchestration that elevate it {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews, Stage Spotlight

Q & A: Alma Deutscher On Mozart & Making Classical Music Imaginative

https://operawire.com/q-a-alma-deutscher-on-mozart-making-classical-music-imaginative/

(Photo Credit: Benjamin Ealovega) According to renowned conductor Zubin Mehta, Alma Deutscher is “One of the greatest musical talents today.” According to others, she is comparable to Mozart, a former child prodigy, British composer, pianist, violinist and conductor, who started playing music at the age of two and who could read music before she could read words. Her music has {…}

DVD and CD Reviews, Reviews

CD Review: Aigul Akhmetshina’s Debut Album ‘Aigul’

https://operawire.com/cd-review-aigul-akhmetshinas-debut-album-aigul/

A debut album from the new darling of the opera world: Aigul Akhmetshina, the young mezzo soprano from Bashkortostan. While training with the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Artists Programme in London, Akhmetshina has performed the role of Carmen in Peter Brooks’ condensed version of Bizet’s opera and later understudied the titular role in the main house while performing the {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Review 2024: Carmen

https://operawire.com/glyndebourne-festival-opera-review-2024-carmen/

(Photo: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photography by Richard Hubert Smith) “Carmen” is unquestionably one of the most popular works ever composed and has become an almost permanent fixture in the repertoire of opera houses. However, this presents something of a dilemma for those creative artists and directors who desire to produce the opera in a more contemporary setting and feel {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2024 Review: Tristan und Isolde

https://operawire.com/glyndebourne-opera-festival-2024-review-tristan-und-isolde/

(Photo credit: Glyndebourne’s own official trailer highlights its festival as “No Ordinary Opera”. Certainly, the staging for “Tristan und Isolde” is far from ordinary, courtesy of a visually entrancing setting by Ronald Aeschlimann. The performers are basically encased in an elliptical vortex-type form of concentric circles, which I interpreted to be a depiction of some portal-like presence intended to illustrate {…}