(Credit: A Bofill) “Luisa Miller,” which premiered in 1849, marks the inflection point from the early Verdi style, strongly influenced by the formal structure of the Bel-canto operas, to the mature Verdi who looked for a dramatic communion between the text, the vocal line, the music, and the characters. We can even appreciate an evolution within the opera, where the {…}
(Credit: Teatro Nuovo) On the evening of Thursday, July 18, 2019, opera lovers excitedly took to their seats for a semi-staged production of Rossini’s rarely performed “La Gazza Ladra” (“The Thieving Magpie”) at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater. The opera was presented by Teatro Nuovo, a fairly new organization which aims to produce “exciting revivals of neglected Bel Canto {…}
It’s not often that the weather takes prominence in a review of any concert. But for this Tanglewood concert, on this Saturday night –anniversary of the moon landing! — an exception must be made. Because as much as any other element in the evening’s performances, weather — in this case, record temperatures and devastating humidity – also took center stage. {…}
(Photo: Koichi Miura/Metropolitan Opera) With the spectacular images coming out of the Bregenz Festival’s mainstage production on Lake Constance, it can be easy to forget that there is other programming going on. But on the nights when the Bodensee is dark, the Vienna Symphony plays concert repertoire in the Festspielhaus under a guest conductor. Monday night featured Verdi’s Messa di {…}
(Credit: Bregenzer Festspiele/ Karl Forster) While “Rigoletto” plays on the Bregenz Festival’s main stage, the famous floating Seebühne on Lake Constance in western Austria, the Festspielhaus offers a chance to see “Don Quichotte,” Massenet’s poignant adaptation of Miguel Cervantes’s immortal novel, “Don Quixote.” The Best Men Can Be The new production, directed by Mariame Clément, might seem disorienting on paper. It {…}
The opera “Il Trovatore,” along with “La Traviata” and “Rigoletto,” makes up what is often called the “Verdi trilogy,” the trio of operas that mark the breakout for the composer and a shift toward operas where he looked for a communion between the drama and the music through new musical language and deep characterization of the roles. “Il Trovatore” has {…}
(Photo Credit: Richard Termine) July 24, 2019, saw the New York premiere of “The Black Clown,” a new work adapted from the Langston Hughes poem of the same name, with music by Michael Schachter and directed by Zack Winokur. Exploring the struggles of the African-American experience, this powerful work blends opera with the styles of gospel, vaudeville, and jazz, allowing {…}
(Photo: Diane Deschenaux) With Europe once again baking under unpleasantly high temperatures thanks to our lack of interest in dealing with the problems of global warming, what better place to go than high up in the Swiss Alps. Verbier at an altitude 1,500 meters would seem to be ideal. An alpine ski resort, set on a south-facing terrace with splendid {…}
A prestigious showcase of the opera world , the Rolex Ambassadors Gala, took place at La Scala earlier this month. Big names and outstanding performances. A unique opportunity to see the stars of the opera world together: Juan Diego Flórez, Jonas Kaufmann, Sonya Yoncheva, Yuja Wang, Plácido Domingo and Gustavo Dudamel conduct Wiener Philharmoniker. But today, I’m not going to review {…}