A performance of Verdi’s Requiem is a rather rare event at the Metropolitan Opera. That a run of the famed mass is currently underway with the company comes down to the fact that a proposed production for another opera was canceled. But the timing could not have been better. With the unfortunate passing of baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the Met was {…}
What better way to celebrate America in the midst of moral decay? What better offering than a paean to the quest for independence, human dignity, the chance for actual freedom? Meet “Girls of the Golden West,” John Adam’s brand new opera, given its world premiere last night in San Francisco. A collaboration with the renowned artist and visionary, Peter Sellars, {…}
Despite fall’s chill blanketing Manhattan, opera-goers are delighting in the light-hearted comedy in Juilliard’s production of Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera.” Composed when he was just shy of turning 19, Mozart indulges in the fiery emotions that stir a garden party, gathered at the house of a small-town mayor. The opening scene reels in the listener while two maids whisper about {…}
The beauty of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” could render any critique almost unseemly. After all, to hear that seamless music, the moments that turn transcendent — and then to cavil? I’d suggest that even a modest performance, say, even in the dense rainforest (echoing, of course, Werner Herzog’s “Ftizcarraldo”) would still, inevitably, move one. The score simply flows, with audience and performers {…}
Brooklyn’s Regina Opera company has kicked off its 2017-18 season with Verdi’s timeless “La Traviata.” As befitting a company entering its 48th season, its knowledge and execution of the work well-reflected the experience of the cast and crew. The rather-limited stage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy was used to great effect as the faces flooded on and {…}
It’s always a welcome sight when companies stage works that are underappreciated and lesser known. It’s also risky because such unfamiliarity can result in smaller audiences who would be more willing to come out for works that are more recognizable. With that in mind, it was admirable for New Orleans Opera to present Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” last {…}
I will kick off this review by noting that it was the first time I had ever seen “Cenerentola” and I was charmed. It was a magical evening, with great music, excellent singing and loads of comedy and stage business. It began with a fine rendering of the overture by the Orchestre Metropolitan conducted by the Spanish conductor Jose Miguel Perez-Sierra. {…}
A wise man of opera once said in my hearing, testifying to the enduring emotional impact of Puccini: “When I no longer cry at ‘Boheme,’ I quit.” The same should be said of “La Fanciulla del West,” from “Ch’ella mi creda” to the end – and so it is with Lillian Groag’s production that opened on Nov. 10 at the {…}
“The voice must be heard.” For the last two years, this has been the calling card for the Metropolitan Opera’s marketing department, a call to just come and listen to opera as it is intended to be. An invitation to experience something that can’t be experienced anywhere. For many, that tagline has been particularly emblematic of the vocal wizardry that {…}