(Photo: Monika Ritttershaus) The initial impressions of the Aix-en-Provence festival’s production of Rossini’s “Moïse et Pharaon” did not bode well. Hearsay reports spoke of a modern day reinterpretation in which the focus was on refugees, and their life in the camps and the perils they face when crossing the Mediterranean. Productions which seek to politicize an opera, beyond that which {…}
(Photo: Monika Rittershaus) To mark the 700th anniversary of Dante Aligheri’s death in September 1321, the Aix-en-Provence festival staged the world premier of French composer Pascal Dusapin’s opera “Il Viaggio, Dante,” based upon the poet’s iconic narrative poem “The Divine Comedy.” To say that this is an ambitious undertaking is an understatement, especially as the work has been compressed into {…}
Raven Chacon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, performer, and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation, composed a series of 13 scores as portraits dedicated to different contemporary American Indian, First Nations, or Mestiza women working in music performance, composition, or sound art. Currently on view in the 2022 Whitney Biennial, this work creates space for better understanding the Yankton Dakota {…}
Photo: Bernd Uhlig Ingo Metzmacher, the conductor for this year’s Aix-en-Provence festival’s production of Strauss’ “Salome” stressed time and again throughout his program notes the need for a cool head, for orchestral restraint and calm, for sobriety and balance. His stated aim was to ensure the orchestra does not predominate, does not get carried away, is not too loud, but {…}
Photos by Matt Madison-Clark This review is of the July 23, 2022, Berkshire Opera Fest Performance “At the heart of what we do is produce the greatest opera at the highest level. The Berkshires is a magical place. There was a void of opera, and so here we are,” Jonathon Loy, Berkshire Opera Fest’s (BOF) Co-founder and Director of Production, {…}
The UK Premiere of Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” was a tad late getting underway. The almost capacity audience at Opera Park Holland needing to be reminded three times to take their seats in order for the performance to commence. Not that Mr. Adamo himself, present at the event in the 5th row back, would have minded much; given that he {…}
This review is from the third performance, on the 8th of July. The Teatro Real closed its 2021-22 season with 15 performances of what is probably Verdi’s most famous early opera: “Nabucco.” With four baritones sharing the titular role, three sopranos, and three basses, this production promised to be one of the highlights of the season. But despite having such {…}
(Photo: Jean-Louis Fernandez) As a rule of thumb, you know that if you have to rely on the director’s program notes to make sense of what is happening on stage, then the production is likely to disappoint. Of course, even in such circumstances it is sometimes possible to develop an intuitive understanding, even where the explicit meaning remains elusive, which {…}
(Credit: Ph. Fabrizio Sansoni / TOR) After a two year absence from the Terme di Caracalla, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has returned. The company decided to open its summer season with a 2017 production of “Carmen” that sets the opera in a modern Mexico close to the border. The result is a production that is timely due to the {…}