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Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opera Australia 2022 Review: La Juive

https://operawire.com/opera-australia-2022-review-la-juive/

Credit: Prudence Upton First performed in Paris in 1835, Fromontel Halévy’s “La Juive” finally opened its first Australian season at Sydney Opera House on March 9, 2022, in this co-production between Opéra National de Lyon and Opera Australia. The production was to have been staged in 2020, but COVID-19 stymied those plans. Nevertheless, the determination of Opera Australia and a {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opera Australia 2022 Review: Turandot

https://operawire.com/opera-australia-2022-review-turandot/

(Photo credit: Prudence Upton) Storywise, Puccini’s “Turandot” presents an interesting challenge. Based on a fairytale dramatized by 18th century Italian writer, Carlo Gozzi, it doesn’t quite fit into Puccini’s more natural style. And even casual audience members might find themselves asking, “If Turandot is so horrible nearly all the way through, how can we believe her sudden change of heart at {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Janet Farrell on INSERIES & Being a Recipient of a National Opera Trustee Recognition Award

https://operawire.com/q-a-janet-farrell-on-in-series-opera-being-a-recipient-of-a-national-opera-trustee-recognition-award/

Janet Farrell is one of five recipients of the National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards by Opera America. Farrell, who loves singing, was brought to the INSERIES by the dynamic artistic director, Timothy Nelson. With Farrell’s professional business acumen and experience at M&T Bank and her love of opera, she has been able to draw attention and support to INSERIES, something {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Central City Opera 2024 Review: La Fanciulla del West

https://operawire.com/central-city-opera-2024-review-la-fanciulla-del-west/

(Photo credit: Amanda Tipton) Central City Opera (CCO) resurges in 2023-24, the institution entering the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, installing Alison Moritz as Artistic Director and bouncing back from a turbulent 2023 marked by labor strife, now buoyed by the new leadership of CEO Scott Finlay. With a reinforced endowment, CCO’s ambitious 2024 summer festival season programmed Gilbert and {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Brno National Theater 2023-24 Review: Peter Grimes

https://operawire.com/brno-national-theater-2023-24-review-peter-grimes/

(Photo Brno: Marek Olbryzmek) Britten’s “Peter Grimes” is a director’s dream. Who is Grimes? It is certain he is a loner; an outsider and a social misfit open to fits of temper. Yet there is also a sensitive side to his nature that comes out intermittently throughout the opera, notably in his aria “Now the Great Bear and the Pleiades” {…}

Special Features

Callas Casual: An Off-Duty-ish Day in the Company of La Divina

https://operawire.com/callas-casual-an-off-duty-ish-day-in-the-company-of-la-divina/

(Callas enshrouded in reporters. Credit: Maurice Zalewski/ADOC photos)   Vignettes of onstage outtakes are aplenty. Daily shots of the soprano, less so. Here’s a peek into Maria’s typical excursions—culinary and sartorial; social and cultural—on a work(not really)less day. Coruscating like the crystalline intrusion of a cocktail dress’ brooch asparkle in a parking lot; a spotlight pooling blindness onto “Poliuto”‘s Paolina; {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Houston Grand Opera 2023-24 Review: Intelligence

https://operawire.com/houston-grand-opera-2023-24-review-heggie-intelligence/

Photo: Michael Bishop Houston Grand Opera’s season premiere, “Intelligence,” is not just another opera to take in – it’s an experience to be absorbed. It masterfully fulfills art’s big-picture role: sparking dialogues and bridging emotional divides, even when the discussions are challenging and the ties seem broken. This riveting work is realized through the collective genius of composer Jake Heggie, {…}