(Credit: Lloyd Winters) The jumbotrons flash with bright colors and larger-than-life faces. The campervans are scattered across Alexandra Palace’s massive outdoor stage. I am transported to some bizzarro Coachella performed in suburban London. I pull my coat close around me as a pervasive English damp and an all-too familiar British wind cut through the desert festival scenes. The cars beginning {…}
As I was going to the first performance of “Werther,” a drame lyrique by Jules Massenet, I was glad that I would finally listen to Piotr Beczała live in this role, which he has performed for 25 years. Nevertheless, as I entered Teatr Wielki – the Polish National Opera, I was also a bit concerned that I was about to {…}
(Credit: Luciano Romano) This review is for the performance on Oct. 16, 2020. “La Rondine” has been unjustly considered a minor work in the Puccini canon. With a plot that reminds many of “La Traviata,” the three-act work was meant to be an operetta but ended up as a hybrid melodrama, it’s confused stylistic identity, relegating it to rare performances. {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) In December 1900 the HMS Hesperus weighed anchor close to a group of small rocky outcrops known as the Flannan Islands, situated in the Outer Hebrides. It was reacting to a report from a passing ship that the island’s lighthouse was not shining its light. Receiving no signal from the lighthouse, the captain of the Hesperus sent {…}
(Photo: Marek Olbrzymek) Superficially “Jenůfa” is a tale of village life, full of folk traditions and colorful costumes, of a close intimate community in which all participate in each other’s daily lives and activities. Sure bad things happen, as they do everywhere, people fall out, they fight and argue and occasionally even murder, but the underlying harmony and all round {…}
(Photo credit: Opera Ithaca) Diving headfirst into creating a film production of an opera in the middle of a pandemic is a risk that most companies might shy away from taking right now. Social distancing and the tedious task of troubleshooting with technology, video editing, and sound design are all vital factors that must be adhered to and mastered. However, {…}
(Photo: Michele Crosera) Contrary to popular rumor, it is very unlikely that Salieri and Mozart were on acrimonious terms, let alone enemies. As court composer to Emperor Joseph II, Salieri dominated Viennese musical society which he used to secure positions for Italian artists, which no doubt irritated the ambitious Mozart, but there is no evidence for any animosity between the {…}
The Teatro Real opened the 2020-21 season with Verdi’s masterpiece, “Un Ballo in Maschera.” Only the second opera performed at the theatre since the global lockdown due to the pandemic, it marks a hopeful beginning for the company’s season. As the regulations have changed, the production—complete with full sets and dancers—had to be adjusted. Dancers wore protective masks because they {…}
(Credit Javier del Real) This review is for the performance of the 3d of October 2020. Due to the cancellation of a previous soprano, the Teatro Real engaged three additional sopranos for this middle-period Verdi opera: Saioa Hernandez, Maria Pia Piscitelli, and Sondra Radvanovsky. And while all three are fantastic artists in their own right, there was no doubt that {…}
