In 1790 the Burgtheater in Vienna premiered “Così Fan Tutte,” Mozart’s well-known and regularly performed masterpiece about the fickleness of the human heart. Yet, 15 years earlier, aged only 18, Mozart wrote “La Finta Giardiniera,” another opera buffa which also tackled the theme of love, albeit from a different angle, focusing this time on the madness which love’s unrestrained passions {…}
I arrived at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Thursday night, Oct. 11, 2018, just in time to catch some of conductor James Conlon’s pre-performance talk to several hundred audience-members attending that evening’s Los Angeles Opera production of Verdi’s “Don Carlo.” Yes, Conlon regularly delivers these incredibly insightful introductions to the evening’s opera even as he’s about to go out and {…}
Composer Astor Piazzolla and librettist Horacio Ferrer premiered the Spanish language tango opera “Maria de Buenos Aires” in that city in 1968. Arizona Opera presented it at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson on October 6, 2018. The opera tells of life in the demi-monde found on the wrong side of the tracks. Its characters are prostitutes, wife {…}
This review is for the 7:00 pm performance on October 6, 2018. Broadway stars Laura Osnes and Tony Yazbeck reunited at Feinstein’s/54 Below for a week-long run of performances that drew upon their passion for singing and dancing, as well as their mutual love of the works of George and Ira Gershwin among other composers. Accompanied by pianist and music {…}
“Il Trovatore” fits awkwardly in Verdi’s extraordinarily fruitful “middle period.” Wedged between the musical and dramatic innovations of “Rigoletto” and “La Traviata,” it seems to be a conservative throwback to an Italian idiom established by Rossini and his early successors. It is a “numbers” opera with a melodramatic plot (based on Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez’s “El trovador”) that beggars belief. {…}
San Francisco Opera has always been in love with Puccini’s “Tosca.” From 1932, when the War Memorial Opera House first opened its doors, until today, this opera has been its darling. Every Opera Director has wanted her on its stage; every dramatic soprano has wanted to perform her. The new production in San Francisco has set her in motion once {…}
It was a special evening at Carnegie Hall. It was the return of Jonas Kaufmann to New York, where he is also slated to return to the Metropolitan Opera this season. So it was fitting the tenor would serve up an appetizer to the New York public in anticipation for his big opera return. The delightful program, which was made up {…}
Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” is among the most underrated works in the entire operatic canon. Despite being one of, if not the absolute best, opera by the legendary composer, it doesn’t get nearly as many performances as some of his more iconic or popular works. One of the major reasons for this is that it is one of his {…}
Verdi’s “Aida” is the quintessential opera in so many ways. It features a larger than life story in an exotic world alongside some of the greatest music ever written. In a house like the Met Opera, this work is also featured in an impressive and immersive set tailored to bringing us to some version of Ancient Egypt. This current production {…}