(Credit: Karen Almond / Met Opera) A man speaks out against a tyrant and gets dragged off to jail. That’s at the core of the plot of “Fidelio.” Unsurprisingly, as the Met Opera was reviving Beethoven’s lone operatic work, this very script played out in a different theatrical arena – the U.S. Congress – hours after the “leader of the {…}
(Photo Credit: Gianmarco Bresadola) “Regietheater” remains a hot topic in the opera world. The main reason for the controversy is because a lot of those new approaches generally need to contort the original material into something completely new to find purpose. Interpretation gives way to transformation, rewriting, and often, reinvention. I stand a bit in the middle on this. On {…}
(Photo credit: Keith Saunders) One of the benefits of reviewing operas is the opportunity to take guests whose experience of opera may be comparatively recent, and whose reactions are refreshingly unbound by preconceptions. At the end of scene one of Opera Australia’s “The Barber of Seville” at Sydney Opera House on Saturday January the 18th my guest on the night {…}
George Sand is like the epitome of Parisian intellectualism: a writer, feminist, socialite, and revolutionary whose ideals resonate with compassion and societal optimism that made her an aspirational figure to the progressively oriented middle-class. Her legacy is manifold, and her alliance with spearhead musicians, including Chopin and Pauline Viardot, has greatly influenced her esteem among like-minded posterity. Sonya Yoncheva, for {…}
Like last week, for this edition of the word search, we are going to spotlight some of the most renowned opera companies in the world. Instructions: You are free to solve the word search directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the first and last letter of each word for it to appear on the screen. For those {…}
For this edition of the word search, we are going to spotlight some of the most renowned opera companies in the world. Instructions: You are free to solve the word search directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the first and last letter of each word for it to appear on the screen. For those using a mobile {…}
We are going to switch things up this week with a new format to the puzzle. In lieu of our usual, complete the name, we are going to ask you to find the last name of the artist referenced in the clue. So get out your history books and brush up on your “Ariadne auf Naxos” interpreters because this puzzle {…}
(Credit: ROH / Catherine Ashmore) In this edition of the word search, we spotlight the interpreters of Verdi’s “Don Carlo.” Instructions: You are free to solve the word search directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the first and last letter of each word for it to appear on the screen. For those using a mobile device, we {…}
(Credit: Anja Koehler) For this week’s word search, we turn the spotlight on composers born in October. For this puzzle, we provide you with the name of an opera and it’s your job to find the composer’s full name. Instructions: You are free to solve the word search directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the first and {…}
As we close out Latinx / Hispanic Heritage month, we take stock of some of the most renowned opera stars from Latin America. Instructions: You are free to solve the word search directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the first and last letter of each word for it to appear on the screen. For those using a {…}
(Credit: Met Opera) For this week’s puzzle, we’re shifting focus to interpreters of Nadir in Bizet’s “Pêcheurs de Perles.” Instructions: You are free to solve the word scramble directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the space and type in the letters in order. Once you’ve filled in the correct word, the cursor will jump to the next {…}