On Friday, October 26, tenor Paul Appleby was joined by pianist Natalia Katyukova for an evening of lieder and songs from Benjamin Britten, George Frederic Handel, Franz Schubert, and more. This night also saw the world premiere of “Songs of Imagined Love,” a new cycle from composer Hannah Lash, which drew inspiration from the works of Schubert. While most of {…}
Every day up to 25,000 people disembark from the expanded cruise terminal in Venice and pour into the city’s narrow streets. Thousands more arrive by train and car. The water buses are so crowded that it would be preferable to walk, if it were not for the fact that the streets have become equally unbearable; so much so in fact, {…}
One of the many events that makes Wexford Festival Opera such a unique experience is the afternoon presentations of “Opera Shorts.” Normally, these are piano reductions of well-known operas, but recently they have started to broaden their scope. Last year’s festival successfully premiered a new opera, “The Dubliners” by Andrew Synnott, based on two of the short stories from James Joyce’s {…}
It seems like Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre are finally ready for changes. This September, the Artistic Director position was taken by Sesto Quatrini, the Italian conductor who once said he had general ambitions to change the approach to opera in Italy. Interestingly, in Lithuania he faces far more serious and specific changes that need to be done. Maestro Quatrini’s plans sound {…}
Puccini’s “Tosca” received its 966th performance at the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday, Oct. 25. The work featured the second revival of David McVicar’s production from last season, with some unique distinctions. As noted in last year’s review of this production, this version of the work’s success will live or die based on whether the performers bring a strong perspective to {…}
Mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, who recently opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2018-19 season with her role in Saint-Saens’ “Samson and Delilah” took to Carnegie Hall with pianist Kevin Murphy for an evening of lieder, songs, and arias close to her heart and on the pulse of her prominent artistic career. Featuring the works of Schumann, Wagner, Ravel, and more, the program of {…}
On his deathbed, Sergei Prokofiev talked of his hope that “War and Peace,” the opera he considered to be his greatest composition for the stage, would eventually become known the world over in its definitive version. In Russia and other Slavic countries this has largely been achieved, but in the West, performances have been rare indeed. Welsh National Opera’s decision {…}
The last time I saw Plácido Domingo up close was the first time: “Andrea Chénier,” San Francisco, 1975. He was a dashing superstar and a tenor. On Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018, he was General Director of the Los Angeles Opera, overseer of Operalia, The World Opera Competition, which he founded in 1993, conductor, divo, and baritone. What also changed was {…}
The old Irish proverb “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” is particularly applicable to Barcelona-born director Àlex Ollé. Without insinuating any untoward obsession with Satan, in the past ten years Ollé has had numerous dramaturgical dalliances with the Prince of Darkness. First was the cutesy “[email protected]” in collaboration with Fura dels Baus co-director Carlos Padrissa. In {…}
