Opera Australia’s annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour returned this year after last year’s Covid-enforced hiatus with a re-staging by Constantine Costi of the production of “La Traviata” by Francesca Zambello which, back in 2012, launched this Sydney institution. How a venue brings out different qualities in a familiar work is one of the fascinating aspects of theatrical performance traditions. {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real) In a recent review, I took stock of the Teatro Real de Madrid’s production of “Norma” and its first cast. But I also had the opportunity to check out the other cast of the work, including Hibla Gerzmava in her debut as the title character. Unfortunately, it was not the auspicious debut one would have imagined {…}
(Photo: Baltic Opera) Olga Benário Prestes is a name largely unknown in the West, yet in Brazil and former East Germany she was a revolutionary heroine, to the extent that she has become the subject of numerous plays, books, and films. Between 1987 and 1997 the Brazilian composer Jorges Antunes added to the catalog an opera based on her life, {…}
Grange Park Opera has followed their inventive “Owen Wingrave“, a work intended for television, with a filmed realization of Maurice Ravel’s one-act farce “L’heure espagnole,” the story of a clockmaker’s wife who has to shuffle her liaisons like a deck of cards. Director Stephen Medcalf updated the action from eighteenth-century Toledo – given glancing mention through a Goya print on {…}
Gounod’s “Faust” is the quintessential French grand opera. It premiered in Paris at the Théâtre Lyrique in 1859, with spoken dialogues and less musical numbers. The opera was an immense success, and up until 1869 it was represented 314 performances. Subsequent changes included recitatives instead of spoken dialogue, an aria for Valentin, and the ballet during the “Walpurgis Night” scene {…}
“Norma” has probably been the only Bellini work that has always been present in the operatic repertoire since it premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in 1831. After its failure on opening night it turned out to be a real success following its second performance and quickly went on to be performed throughout Europe and North America. It became the {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real) The Teatro Real de Madrid marched on with its current season despite concerns over COVID-19 around the world. Wagner’s “Siegfried” was the opera of choice, presented before a live audience, with COVID-19 safety regulations firmly in place. To maintain social distancing within the pit, the theatre used the first four boxes closest to the stage to {…}
What is most remarkable about this production of “Le Comte Ory” is that it even took place at all. The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is one of the only opera houses in the world to continue to mount staged performances, not just in streaming but before a live audience. Doing so requires important changes and strict precautions: the start time of {…}
Despite the pandemic continuing to rage and canceling productions around the world, the Teatro Real de Madrid was able to bring together three of the world’s most renowned opera stars, Joyce di Donato, Jonas Kaufmann, and Javier Camarena, to perform recitals on its legendary stage. While DiDonato and Kaufmann took on more intimate programs, Camarena gave a full display of {…}