This week the Tiroler Festspiele Erl opens a production of “Der fliegende Holländer” with numerous rising stars including Nian Bezu, who will make her role debut as Senta. Bezu is a rising star who has performed at the Theater Baden, Finnish National Opera, Auditorio de Zaragoza, and Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, among many others. In anticipation for {…}
In the West, Richard Wagner’s music is by far the most utilized music in cinematic practice. From the Ring Cycle in satirical contexts, avant-garde metafiction, and even para-documentary realism, to comedy drama and beyond, his presence in film is extensive and ongoing. But if we leave both the US and Western Europe for a moment, what does one find? Is {…}
On June 29, the Royal Opera House will present a new production of “I Puritani,” featuring Lisette Oropesa in her signature role and led by one of the great Bel Canto conductors working today, Riccardo Frizza. The performance will mark Frizza’s debut on the podium of the Royal Opera House, and it comes as he celebrates 25 years since his {…}
For the last five months, we reversed course and explored operas based on films, and we now know that it sometimes produces mixed results, whilst at other times, it strips the film of what made it great and ends up alienating the audience from the story. But now we’re going to take a step back in time, something familiar to {…}
This week, the Teatro Verdi Trieste is set to present Strauss’ masterwork “Elektra” with two different casts. The opera is known for its demanding roles especially the title character, requiring a soprano with immense stamina. For this run, the company has brought two of the great interpreters of the role including Diana Lamar. The production in Trieste will mark her {…}
The relationship between a conductor and a singer is one of the least examined and most consequential elements of operatic performance. Audiences follow the voice. Critics assess the voice. The conductor, who shapes the tempo the voice breathes within, the space it is given, the dynamic world it moves through, tends to appear in reviews as a presence behind the {…}
Joining the ranks of other screen-to-stage operatic adaptations, Swedish composer Hans Gefors and his eighth opera, “Notorious,” can be considered a contemporary grand opera. Spanning five acts — a number usually seen in French grand opera but also seen in Italian verismo including “Don Carlo,” “Robert le diable,” and “La muette de Portici” — the opera details the complex love affair between a {…}
(Photo Credit: Sarah Peet) In 1753, a 47-year-old Philadelphia writer, editor, scientist and inventor was given a new title by his London overlords. The British Crown named Benjamin Franklin “Deputy Postmaster for the Colonies,” a position he’d sought, and financially lobbied toward, for a couple of years. The gig offered a way to spread publications and patronage. Multiple family members {…}
(Credit: Simon van Rompay) This week La Monnaie opened the world premiere of Iain Bell’s new opera “Medusa.” The work explores the human dimension of the Medusa myth, headlined by soprano Claudia Boyle, who showcases Medusa as reborn as a complex and deeply moving woman, alone amid the stone statues of those who, in their thirst for glory, tried to {…}
