Photo: Taehyun Hwang/Korean Cultural Center New York Soprano Hera Hyesang Park had her debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on Friday, March 3rd, in celebration of Women’s History Month and the 70th Anniversary of the alliance between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea. In the 2022-23 season, Hera performed Adina in “L’Elisir d’amore” at Staatsoper Berlin, and on {…}
Detroit Opera performed George Friederich Handel’s opera “Xerxes,” written from 1737 to 1738, on commission by the King’s Theatre in London. With a change of hands only months behind, Yuval Sharon has a huge legacy to continue, which was frustrated by the opera’s subpar performance. With a stellar orchestra but a shaky cast, Detroit Opera’s renovated Handel was a very {…}
Photo: Marc Brenner/ROH Somnific fiction is the stuff of bedtime stories starring beasts and feasts of the absurd: displays of madness only children could endure pre-slumber. Lumbering imaginations with beguilement, it refrains from the revilement of base villains, wrapping them instead in tangible entrancement. This enhancement of surrealness makes the fairytale the tender tooth’s apéritif: a nightly dose of magical {…}
(Photo: Bart Grietens) Amsterdam’s Opera Forward Festival is dedicated to the exploration of new operas and music theatre alongside other experimental experiences, performances and talks centered on a specific theme. In this, the festival’s seventh edition, it considered questions of revolution and freedom and was headlined by three new operas, two of which, “Animal Farm” by Alexander Raskatov and “Perle {…}
Photo: Bernd-Uhlig-OnP On Mar. 11, 2023, Paris Opera premiered a new production of Thomas’s “Hamlet” at the giant opera colosseum, La Bastille. “Hamlet” premiered at Paris Opera, then known as Académie Impériale de Musique, in 1868, with immense success. One year later, the opera was presented in London with an alternative ending where the hero, Hamlet, dies, changing Shakespeare’s original {…}
On Mar. 12, 2023, the Metropolitan Opera revived and gave the Robert Carsen-directed “Falstaff” its season premiere, marking the company’s 193rd performance that crackled with energy and verve. There was electricity in the crowd, as well. At times, an opening night can feel like a final dress rehearsal. This was not one of those times. The show was tight and {…}
Photo: Isabel Machado Rios A new production of “Die Zauberflöte” at Staatstheater Kassel raised many eyebrows long before its recent premiere on 25 February 2023. Its advanced billing described it as “participative music theatre based on the opera of the same name,” which “opens the question of interpretation to democratic vote,” so fans of Mozart’s final masterpiece were on notice {…}
Photo: Antone Patterson An opera company’s highest calling is to commission new work—to contribute to the history of opera, to leave a legacy. Seattle Opera has done so, memorably, with “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” The piece, which opened February 25 in Seattle’s McCaw Hall and ends March 11, is Seattle Opera’s first mainstage world premiere since Daron Hagen’s “Amelia” from {…}
Photo: Ken Howard/Met Opera March 7, 2023, saw the second performance of the third cast in the Metropolitan Opera’s run of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” starring Angel Blue. Michael Mayer’s lavish production sets the stage for the unfolding tragedy in ways that both amplify and obscure certain aspects. From the overture, we’re presented with a tableau of the moment following Violetta’s {…}