Any new “Otello” recording is usually the focus of major conversation. The Verdi and Boito opera is undeniably one of the pinnacle works in the standard repertory, encompassing a vast array of emotional colors with some of the greatest music humankind has ever conjured up. And the world has seen some truly legendary recordings over the past century with some {…}
An Opera Rara is a love letter to Bel Canto fans. Not only does the company research, rediscover, restore, record, and perform the forgotten operatic heritage of the 19th century, but they offer it up to collectors in a vibrant and potent packaging that includes a generous booklet with a extended article about the opera, photos and lithographs from the {…}
As so much of the world hunkers down during a pandemic that has shuttered live music venues for the foreseeable future, there’s no better time than now to discover new music. “Off the Beaten Track” highlights an album of note–not necessarily a new recording, but one that has caught my attention as I explore the universe of classical vocal music. {…}
On March 14, 2020, Mercury Opera concluded its run of Puccini’s timeless “La Boheme.” Due to the situation regarding the spread of COVID-19, this production was offered up via live stream; this review is the result of that viewing experience. This production translated the drama into the relatively-modern setting of New York City in 1979, in a time when the {…}
Russian tenor Dmitry Korchak’s second solo album for Decca, a compilation of romantic French arias, provides an insightful interpretation of French style, dazzling high notes ,and impressive piannismi and diminuedo phrasing. The album presents, with the exception of the less popular Bizet’s aria “À la voix d’un amant fidele,” a selection of the most renowned lyrical and romantic French arias. {…}
(Credit: Monika Ritterhaus) Audience members were already en route to Unter den Linden when the news began to spread on social media: the evening’s performance of “Carmen,” the second in a much-anticipated run of performances, would be the final night of Berlin opera before the city’s concert halls and opera houses were forced to close their doors for at least {…}
(Photo: T+T Fotografie / Toni Suter + Tanja Dorendorf) Vienna in the 1860s was a period of change, of unrest. Whilst the armies of the Empire had suffered numerous military defeats throughout the 1850s and 60s, its Emperor Franz Joseph undertook a programme of works aimed at modernising the imperial city: the city walls were demolished and the Ringstrasse completed, {…}
Despite closing down in an effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19 around the world, many opera companies are still finding creative ways of reaching their respective audiences in the hopes of giving them some measure of relief. Moreover, these efforts are a reminder that despite these trying times, there is hope of an eventual return to normalcy and that {…}
(Credit: Steven Pisano) I have always been partial to small and regional opera companies as they struggled to hold the flag high for the art of opera, often in the unlikeliest places. First, it seemed to me those small companies mirrored what was the norm in Europe, with so many of the small towns with their own opera theater and {…}
