Dangerously close to the genre of farce, Verdi’s “Falstaff” almost lifts the burden of tough singing from its players. Centered on a large ensemble cast to which – with the exception of the titular protagonist – the vocal challenges are doled out almost equally, its arias are largely scant. Transferring the setting from 15th-century London to a fanciful, blown-up and {…}
Any time an opera production begins with non-textual lines, especially in a language different to the libretto, alarm bells ring louder the tubular Grail chimes in “Parsifal.” Such was the case in Davide Livermore’s new staging of “Manon Lescaut” for the Gran Teatre del Liceu which had already been seen in co-production with the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Instead of {…}
Italian critic and musicologist Fedele d’Amico once praised Rossini for the “orgiastic spirit” and the “vital joy” of his music. This is most true of his most effervescent and famous opera, “The Barber of Seville.” Experiencing it with a good singers and musicians can be like an indulgent meal of cotton candy. A special matinee performance of the piece in Springdale, {…}
Giorgio Battistelli is Italy’s most prolific living opera composer, with a catalogue of more than 30 compositions for the stage. In 2005, his opera, “Richard III,” received its world premiere at the De Vlaamse Opera, Belgium, to considerable acclaim and was followed by revivals in Düsseldorf and Geneva. Now, after more than 13 years, it has received its Italian premier {…}
“Parsifal. Parsifal.” Real? Dreamed? Which? In the opening of the Bayerische Staatsoper Opernfest 2018, we couldn’t tell. The new production by Pierre Audi and Georg Baselitz, which featured Jonas Kaufmann, René Pape, Christian Gerhahar, Nina Stemme, Wolfgang Koch, and conductor Kirill Petrenko, took us to a world far-beyond the drizzly night outside the doors, and watched a human and sacred {…}
So much is Don Juan’s tale the stuff of legend that it lends itself as easily to various interpretations as Greek myths. For every legendary story that encounters many incarnations – be it Tristan and Isolde’s love, Medea’s filicide or Romeo and Juliet – there comes a time when it is not only acceptable, but fascinating to encounter the familiar {…}
Beverly Sills once said the most challenging part of playing Baby Doe was making her likable from the start. The same might be said of the other main characters in Moore’s opera, all of whom are profoundly flawed and selfish. At the opener of this year’s Opera in the Ozarks production an excellent cast reveals all the good in what could {…}
This week, opera and Broadway star Paulo Szot returned to 54 Below for his eighth appearance in his show “Salute to Broadway.” The set list, music directed by Billy Stritch, drew upon songs that have played a formative role in Szot’s life and career as an artist, including songs he performed for the first time that evening. After a jazz {…}
When Dorothy arrived in Oz, she made the memorable comment “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.” Mega diva Joyce DiDonato’s first glimpse of the superb 6th century church of Aya Irini in the gardens of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul may well have elicited the same response. The operatic career of the former Joyce Flaherty from Prairie {…}