(Credit: Timothy White for Decca) Wearing a shiny taupe gown that reflected minimized images of the lights above, soprano Renée Fleming and pianist Gerald Martin Moore entered to applause that showed they have fans in this desert city. They opened with a Valentine befitting February 14th: George Frideric Handel’s enticing “Bel Piacere è Godere.” Fleming followed its fast, tricky coloratura {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real) The Teatro Real de Madrid kicked off 2020 with a revival of the successful production of “Die Zauberflöte” by Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade-Paul Barrit, which was last seen in 2016. The staging is meant as an homage to silent movies and there are no sets, just a big white screen very close to the edge {…}
(Credit: Fabio Parenzan Visualart – Teatro Verdi Trieste.) Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste’s staging of “Boris Godunov” was an imported production from the Dnepropetrovsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Dnipro in the Ukraine, originally directed by Yurii Victorovych Chaika, with Trieste supplying the orchestra and part of the chorus, under the musical director, Alexander Anissimov. Given the work’s {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real) Famed Mexican tenor Javier Camarena ended a solo tour through Spain with a recital at the Auditorio Nacional de Música on Feb. 7, 2020. Accompanied by pianist Angel Rodriguez, the structure of the program was originally a presentation of future repertoire for the tenor, with a first part dedicated to French repertoire and the second half {…}
This review is for the third performance of this run on Feb. 1st, 2020. Moments prior to the first performance of “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” at the Paris Opera, the audience members were greeted by a recording clarifying the situation. Strikes in Paris had kept the theater closed for over a month, so it was no surprise that the attempts {…}
(Photo Credit: Dario Acosta) February 4, 2020, saw the latest installment of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, with the evening’s recital featuring renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau. The program, titled “Fauenliebe und –leben: Variations,” took Schumann’s song cycle and fleshed out a fuller narrative, using a breadth of musical works from other composers which spanned eight languages. {…}
(Credit: Johan Person) “Les vêpres siciliennes” is one of Verdi’s few substantive forays into the bloated dimensions of Meyerbeerian grand opera, and less frequently performed than its iconic companions “Aida” and “Don Carlo.” David Pountney’s new production of Verdi’s 1855 story of revolution, love and duty, created in collaboration with the Theater Bonn, was hotly anticipated as it marked the {…}
(Credit: Guergana Damianova / Opera de Paris) Attending a French opera in Paris is always a remarkable experience; in this case, as the conductor and most of the cast were French you get a special taste of French style and diction that is difficult to find anywhere else. On this occasion, the Paris Opera mounted Robert Carsen’s famed production of {…}
Richard Eyre’s production of “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Metropolitan Opera is far from perfect. But what it has proven to be over the years, is durable and a blast for audiences and performers alike. Despite its metallic set that seems to swallow up sound from the stage, there is no doubt that its revivals are often fantastic experiences {…}