Photo Credit: Anna Barbera In this column, we’ve explored the sacred and the profane—from a song cycle of Psalms composed by Dvořák and performed by Elyse Anne Kakacek to a spoken-word recording reimagining the character of Salome. What’s missing? A good meal. In this installment of Off the Beaten Track, the off-menu special is “In Appetizing Portions,” a newly released {…}
(Photo: Adi Goldstein) Every Friday, Polina Lyapustina delivers a short essay on some of the most essential topics in the industry with the intent of establishing a dialogue about the opera world and its future. Another week passed, and the negotiations that the Met and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees started with a supposed June 14 deadline to start the Met {…}
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(Photo: Birgit Gufler) Director Johannes Reitmeier brought the Tiroler Landestheater’s production of Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” to close with a question. “How was it possible?” was projected across the stage in large letters. Not only did this immediately encourage the audience to reflect on what they had witnessed and to attempt an answer, but it is also a question {…}
It was in 1969 when “Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali,” by Gaetano Donizetti, was renamed “Viva la Mamma” for a series of performances in Munich— and since then, the name has stuck. The opera premiered as a one-act farce in Naples in 1827 and obtained great success. Donizetti presented the two-act version in Milan in 1831. But the opera then {…}
(Photo: Jonathan Cooper) Every Friday, Polina Lyapustina delivers a short essay on some of the most essential topics in the industry with the intent of establishing a dialogue about the opera world and its future. On Monday, South African soprano Pretty Yende was detained at the French Customs. Once released, she immediately reported the mistreatment. Meanwhile, French Police commented that Yende did {…}
The young artists of Teatro Grattacielo, along with special guest star the inimitable Karen Slack, showcased rare gems of verismo arias and art songs at the company’s 2021 Annual Fund Gala presented in collaboration with Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy. Teatro Grattacielo held the gala at the opulent Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York City on Friday evening, June 18. The {…}
(Photo: Naomi Eleonora Biagi) With its commitment to producing contemporary works, The Haydn Foundation situated in Bolzano under the artistic direction of Matthias Lošek, must have one of the most ambitious opera programs in Italy, if not Europe. Over the past few years, it has consistently promoted and commissioned new pieces which it intersperses with thematically linked known works. It {…}
(Credit: Vincent Pontet/Opera de Paris) This review is from the opening night on the 4th of June 2021 For months the Opéra de Paris was doing it all it could to reopen. But the pandemic would not allow it. The result was that many productions were forced on digital platforms, including its recent “Faust” showcase. But alas, after 15 months {…}