(Photo credit: Keith Saunders) The designation of Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto for Mozart’s 1787 opera “Don Giovanni” is “dramma giocosa” – that is, playful or jocular drama. However, Don Giovanni (aka the legendary Don Juan) roamed Europe seducing women (2,065 of them by calculation of the servant Leporello in Mozart’s version of the tale), and the 19th century’s Romantics saw {…}
On Jan. 2, 2023, American soprano Nadine Sierra outshone the rest of the cast of “La Sonnambula” due to her beautiful dark Lirico-leggera voice, her incredible thrilling high notes up to high F, a piercing projection and a strong, believable characterization of the weak Bellini heroine. Despite of her astonishing higher register, her voice is bigger and darker than the {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl / Met Opera) Last month the Metropolitan Opera opened its final run of Sonja Frisell’s legendary “Aida” staging. The production, which opened in 1988, remains somewhat of a splendor for its lush and detailed sets. As I noted in my recent review, I have never been the biggest fan of this particular mise-en-scène, but on this revival, {…}
On Jan. 7, 2023, iSing Suzhou, in collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Asian Performing Arts Council presented “Echoes of Ancient Tang Poems” at Alice Tully Hall. The event, in celebration of the Lunar New Year, was the culmination of a compositional competition that initiated in 2020. The composition yielded competitions from around the world, and the winners got {…}
There are few performers as magnetic as Ermonela Jaho. From the moment the Albanian soprano takes the stage, she is so entranced in the world she’s living in and the character she is bringing to life, that you can’t keep your eyes away. This was the case last season when she proved the standout amidst Zeffirelli’s gargantuan “Turandot” production and {…}
Just before the New Year celebration, the Lithuanian capital was seething with indignation and anger : one of the most famous Lithuanian singers in the world, Kristian Benedikt, had participated in the Christmas concert at the Bolshoi Theatre in Minsk. It was not the most understandable and logical decision on the part of the Lithuanian tenor, especially at a time {…}
On December 30th, Detroit Opera ended its transformative 2021-2022 season with a concert production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida,” his antepenultimate work whose Oriental plot and exotic aesthetics discredit the work’s premiere location, ironically the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, Egypt. It seemed people of all kinds came to see this production, one of opera’s most infamous players. It should {…}
(Review written in collaboration with David Salazar) The last time the Met Opera put on Giordano’s “Fedora” was 25 years ago. It was a common refrain in the lead up to the New Year’s Eve opening night with The New York Times, in an exclusive preview for the production, emphasizing the fact and trying to make sense of why this {…}
In very direct terms: Paris’s “La Forza del Destino” is the best production of the opera company this season so far. The success is living proof of the golden rule of opera: great music with great musicians make opera (always) great. It seems to be an easy rule, but it is often forgotten. “La Forza” is an Opera with capital {…}