What are the stakes in “Turandot?” Calaf must answer a riddle or lose his head. Turandot must find out her suitor’s name or she will have to marry him. The people of Peking will have to help their icy princess to do just that or they will all be tortured and killed, in heartbeat, and in one fell swoop. No {…}
For an opera that’s so widely known and beloved by the public, it makes sense why the Los Angeles Opera would want to play it safe with its recent production of “Carmen.” On Sep. 9, 2017, the LA Opera opened its 2017-18 season with the Bizet masterpiece, with superstar soprano Ana María Martínez in the title role. Just four years {…}
The production of “La Fanciulla del West” that has landed in the somewhat unlikely venue called Jazz at Lincoln Centre — but really is the Rose Theater at the Time Warner Centre – would be notable for a number of reasons. It signals the opening of the second season of the reborn New York City Opera. Great news for someone {…}
The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love.” Gabriel García Marquez’s “Cien Años de Soledad.” The Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. What do they have in common? They came into existence exactly 50 years ago. The latter of these experienced a major celebration on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, at the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in a program that featured the {…}
This review was for the performance on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017. Mendelssohn never left us an operatic masterpiece. He made several attempts throughout his career and even flirted with the idea of doing his own “Ring” long before Wagner actually completed one of his own, but ultimately, he will never be known as a composer for the theater. But Mendelssohn {…}
No apologies are made for starting this review of Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” with a description of the venue, Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico, which must count as one of the world’s most beautiful and architectural significant theatres. Designed by Palladio in 1580, it was described by Goethe as “a theatre based on the ancient model, but in small proportions and indescribably beautiful…”. Palladio {…}
Written in only 11 days, “L’occasione fa il ladro” was the fourth of five operas Rossini had been contracted to write for Venice’s Teatro San Moisè. Although only a relatively small theater, with a limited budget and basic scenery and boasting only a small cast of singers and without a chorus, it was the perfect size for the one act {…}
On August 26, 2017, the Tanglewood Music Festival continued with an opera gala featuring Kristine Opolais and Bryn Terfel. Andris Nelsons conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance that featured the second act of Puccini’s “Tosca” and a number of arias from “Porgy and Bess” and other opera classics. The results were delightful and they showcased two artists at {…}
“Madama Butterfly”, a perennial favorite with the opera-going public, seems to be, for good or ill, immune to large-scale meddling from directors attempting to impose their own reading on, what is by opera standards, a well-known story. Rarely do productions step outside late 19th/early 20th century Japan, replete with kanzashi hairstyles, colorful kimonos and obi, houses with paper walls adorned {…}