This review is for the performance on Dec. 8 and featured Maria Jose Moreno’s first performance in the role of Donna Anna. Claus Guth, the stage director, is famous for his scandalous and modern productions. He certainly did not disappoint with his approach to Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” which was presented at the Teatro Real 15 times throughout the holiday season. {…}
Off the Beaten Track is an album review series that takes readers on a cross-disciplinary journey through recently released recordings, spotlighting the cool, the unusual, and the beautiful work created by artists who push boundaries and take the road less traveled. What was Zachary James thinking? Amid a raging pandemic, the star of stage and screen embarked on a wild, {…}
“Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists” was produced by VaVaVoom Theatre and Bedroom Community and was premiered in May 2014, at the 28th edition of Reykjavik Arts Festival. PROTOTYPE’s annual festival debuted the digital US premiere this year and has reopened conversations about this work and its contemporary significance in the opera world. “This is a song cycle, a collection of songs {…}
(Photo: Kari Shea) Every Friday, Polina Lyapustina delivers a short essay on some of the most sensitive topics in the industry with the intent of establishing a dialogue about the opera world and its future. Almost five years ago, working on a social news media product concept, I wrote: “It starts with a whisper…” I remember, this single phrase won {…}
“I’m not ill, I’m nervous.” — George III in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ monodrama Coming to Bavarian State Opera was always a special event. I consider this theater to be the only one that never fell short of my expectations. And it’s not a surprise that I chose to review a performance from there during these busy weeks when the {…}
A cynical depiction of low-class misery and pessimistic determinism in the vein of Zola, “Il Tabarro” may read as a departure from the sympathetic backdrop of Imperial Japan, the mining camps of the western United States, or Bohemian Paris in the 1830s. Yet its musical ingredients leave plenty of room for the elatedness of Puccinian melodies and despite the unusually {…}
(Photo: Jon Tyson) Every Friday, Polina Lyapustina delivers a short essay on some of the most sensitive topics in the industry with the intent of establishing a dialogue about the opera world and its future. This week, I tried to flee from the grave feelings I experienced last week working on my piece about the situation with the Met Orchestra {…}
Innovation and extraordinary contemporary production which is vital to the continuation of opera-theatre and music-theatre works is at the core of this year’s annual PROTOTYPE Festival. Both international and local new works presented online at this time give audience members across the globe a chance to experience multimedia and interdisciplinary art that challenges perspectives and invites audience members to listen {…}
(Photo: Denis Rouvre) Naïve’s recent release, “Argippo,” is Volume 64 of its ongoing project to record the entire Vivaldi catalog held by the Italian National Library in Turin. However, unlike the other volumes, this work does not actually form part of the Turin collection. Initially written in 1730 to a libretto by Domenico Lalli for Vienna’s Theater am Kartner Tor {…}