On March 14, 2020, Mercury Opera concluded its run of Puccini’s timeless “La Boheme.” Due to the situation regarding the spread of COVID-19, this production was offered up via live stream; this review is the result of that viewing experience. This production translated the drama into the relatively-modern setting of New York City in 1979, in a time when the {…}
(Credit: Monika Ritterhaus) Audience members were already en route to Unter den Linden when the news began to spread on social media: the evening’s performance of “Carmen,” the second in a much-anticipated run of performances, would be the final night of Berlin opera before the city’s concert halls and opera houses were forced to close their doors for at least {…}
(Photo: T+T Fotografie / Toni Suter + Tanja Dorendorf) Vienna in the 1860s was a period of change, of unrest. Whilst the armies of the Empire had suffered numerous military defeats throughout the 1850s and 60s, its Emperor Franz Joseph undertook a programme of works aimed at modernising the imperial city: the city walls were demolished and the Ringstrasse completed, {…}
Despite closing down in an effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19 around the world, many opera companies are still finding creative ways of reaching their respective audiences in the hopes of giving them some measure of relief. Moreover, these efforts are a reminder that despite these trying times, there is hope of an eventual return to normalcy and that {…}
(Credit: Steven Pisano) I have always been partial to small and regional opera companies as they struggled to hold the flag high for the art of opera, often in the unlikeliest places. First, it seemed to me those small companies mirrored what was the norm in Europe, with so many of the small towns with their own opera theater and {…}
(Photo credit: Casey Kringlen for The Industry) With their latest production, The Industry proves once more why they’re a major reason to consider LA a vital center of opera. “Sweet Land,” directed by The Industry’s founder Yuval Sharon and Cannupa Hanska Luger (also the designer of stunning costumes), and with words by Aja Couchois Duncan and Douglas Kearney and music {…}
(Photo Credit: WMB Photo) On March 5, 2020, the Curtis Institute of Music lifted the curtain on its run of Benjamin Britten’s “Albert Herring.” A springtime favorite, this opera explores themes of chastity and societal expectations through the eyes of a young greengrocer who finds himself at the center of Loxford’s May Day celebrations. The work employs a number of {…}
(Credit: © ROH 2020 Stephen Cummiskey) The London Handel Festival has birthed several successful collaborations with the Royal Opera House, and this is the second year they’ve staged a work in the new Linbury Theatre. The oratorio “Susanna,” with a text attributed to “Solomon” author Moses Mendez, makes its return to Covent Garden, where it received its premiere, after 271-years {…}
(Photo Provided by Pocket Opera) Pocket Opera, the San Francisco Bay Area’s flagship chamber opera company, opened its 2020 season on March 1, 2020 with the Mozart/Da Ponte masterpiece, “Don Giovanni.” The production was the first under the leadership of the company’s recently installed artistic director, Nicolas A. Garcia. Garcia previously served as the assistant artistic director under Pocket Opera’s {…}
