It’s 2017 and the world of classical music is obsessed with our revered classical, romantic and baroque works relevant to today’s millennials. And then there’s Gilbert and Sullivan. It’s not opera. It’s not musical theater. And aside from a production of “Pirates of Penzance” once a decade, few non-musically educated people are wary of the cheeky, British duo. On June {…}
While the entire opera world turned its attention toward Jonas Kaufmann’s “Otello” debut at the Royal Opera House, another production of Verdi’s famed masterpiece took to the stage in a hotly anticipated run. The Teatro Colón in Bogotá, Colombia is a small locale when compared to the world’s biggest opera houses, seating a little over 1,000 audience members. With baroque {…}
Over the past few years, there has been an emergence of Russian albums recorded by many of today’s greatest divas. Many of the same arias, spanning from Rimsky Korsakov’s gorgeous oriental melodies to Rachmaninov’s lush melodies, havce been recording. It can be very difficult to listen to these pieces over and over unless that interpreter has something new to say. With her fourth {…}
“Rigoletto” can’t be topped for its humanity. A father and a daughter, a jester, a virginal naif, longing for and trying to sustain a good a life in selfish and lecherous world, power-hungry and greedy, 16th century Mantua. Such is the subject of Verdi’s middle period masterpiece. The libretto by Francisco Maria Piave is based on the play “Le Roi {…}
The flamboyant new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” a drama giocoso in two acts, was the brilliant ending of the 2016/2017 season of the Opéra de Lausanne. This was a remarkable event for the town, located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland on the picturesque shore of Lake Léman also known as Lake Geneva. Despite being one of the world’s {…}
In an inspired piece of programming the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck paired Strauss’ “Capriccio” with Gluck’s “Orphée et Eurydice,” which were performed over two consecutive evenings. Separated by more than 160 years and in fundamentally different styles, they are nevertheless natural companion pieces. Although ‘Capriccio’ makes both musical and verbal references to Gluck, the connections between the two operas run far {…}
It may be wondered why Strauss decided to write an opera about the relative merits of the words and music in opera: “prima la musica o prima le parole?” Although it is a debate as old as opera itself, it is hardly a subject that is likely to excite potential audiences, and it is no doubt one of the reasons {…}
This season classical music in New York experienced several firsts. The Metropolitan Opera presented “L’Amour de Loin,” the first opera composed by a woman to be seen at the Met in over a century. The newly revamped New York City Opera presented the American premiere of “Angels in America,” the first of its annual LGBTQ opera initiative to be presented {…}
It’s hard not to applaud the New York City Opera for its return to form. A few years ago the company went into bankruptcy and had to close. It was devastating for opera lovers who wanted an alternative to the Metropolitan Opera and the rather barren New York opera landscape in general. But times have changed and thankfully the company {…}
